Is Forza Motorsport Becoming History?
Forza Motorsport, one of the first names that comes to mind when it comes to Microsoft’s racing games, is nearing its end, according to a statement made by a former employee. It was claimed that Turn 10 Studios closed this legendary series. However, the same does not seem to be true for the Forza Horizon side.
Forza Motorsport Team Disbanded Claim
Fred Russell, who worked as a content coordinator at Turn 10 Studios for four years, stated in a post on Facebook that the studio has closed the Forza Motorsport department. Russell interpreted this situation as “the end of one of the best racing games.” According to his statement, the studio will now focus only on the Horizon side.
Following Russell’s posts, John Schommer, who has been working as a content producer for the Forza brand for over 10 years, also posted a farewell message. It was also reported that business operations manager Jordy Ressler was among those laid off. Although it is not clear how many people were laid off, approximately 50 percent of the Turn 10 team was affected, according to Bloomberg.
It is known that Microsoft laid off 9,000 people in total this week and that there were serious cuts in the game department. Many studios such as Zenimax, King and Rare were affected by this process. It was also reported that projects such as Perfect Dark and Everwild were canceled.
Forza Motorsport, which was first released for Xbox in 2005, has become an important alternative to simulation-focused rivals such as Gran Turismo over time. However, in the following years, the Forza Horizon series, developed by Playground Games, reached a wider audience and surpassed Motorsport. While Horizon continues, the future of Motorsport remains uncertain.
