Gavin Raeburn, who used to work at Codemasters and co-founded Playground Games, thinks he has a plan to revolutionize racing games and challenge the massive popularity of Forza Horizon. It’s a big task, considering Forza Horizon 6 is already a huge commercial success for Playground Games and Microsoft.
The Forza Horizon series is already a cornerstone of Xbox Game Studios, but Forza Horizon 6 is generating incredible hype. The game’s long-awaited setting in Japan has contributed to a phenomenal launch, breaking a Steam record even during its Early Access period. Critics and players are loving it too, with review scores on sites like OpenCritic exceeding 90%. Despite this early success, a new competitor is emerging.
Lighthouse Games Developing a “Forza Horizon Killer”
Over the years, many games have been hyped as the next big thing – a “killer app” that would dominate the market. We’ve seen titles aiming to dethrone popular franchises like Call of Duty, Halo, and Destiny 2, but most haven’t quite lived up to the hype. However, Gavin Raeburn, the head of Lighthouse Games, seems genuinely confident in his team’s ability to deliver. The studio, located near his previous workplace, Playground Games, is staffed by many experienced developers from Playground and Codemasters. Lighthouse Games is also backed by Tencent, the Chinese company that has been investing in numerous game developers, including Ubisoft and FromSoftware.
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In a recent Forbes interview, Ralph Fulton (Raeburn) explained why he left Playground Games, the studio he co-founded in 2009. He said that the huge success of the Forza Horizon series led Playground and Microsoft to avoid taking risks or significantly changing the game’s established formula. While each new Forza Horizon game adds some features, the core gameplay – exploring an open world and racing – remains largely the same. Fulton felt this cautious approach stifled innovation and ultimately led to his departure. He believes Playground and other developers, like Ubisoft’s Ivory Tower, are making similar mistakes by playing it safe, even though the series will likely continue to be successful.
Raeburn didn’t share specifics about how his studio, Lighthouse, will change open-world racing games. However, he claims their upcoming project will be as revolutionary as the leap from Dirt 2 to Horizon. He’s also sure their ideas are unique. The racing genre is getting more competitive, with a new The Crew game on the way, plus a brand-new racing game being developed by Maverick Games, led by Mike Brown, the former creative director of Forza Horizon 5.
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The release of Forza Horizon 6 is just the beginning. Like previous games, Playground Games plans to add lots of new content over the coming months and years – both paid and free. They’ve already hinted at what’s coming, including the Italian Passion Car Pack in July, a version for PlayStation 5, and two major expansions.
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2026-05-27 00:34