Turn 10 Studios, developer for the highly acclaimed Sim racing Forza Motorsport series of games, has been hugely affected by this week’s Microsoft layoffs, which has put serious doubts regarding the future of the long running series. Former Forza Motorsport content coordinator Fred Russell has stated that the original team is “no more” with remaining employees of the studio solely focused on supporting the Forza Horizon series instead, which is developed by Playground Games.
“Turn 10 Studios has shuttered the Forza Motorsport space and the team is no more,” Russell said in a post on Facebook. “A very sad day for one of the best car racing video games. I loved my time there.”
And while responding to a comment regarding Turn 10’s future in the industry, Russell stated that “the studio is open to support the Horizon side” and that Microsoft had “shuttered the Forza Motorsport side only.”
Chris Harding, another former Turn 10 Studios employee, has confirmed that a total of “120 people” were “gone from FM side” which is enormously tragic and sad, not just for the esteemed studio but for gaming in general.
The first Forza Motorsport was released back in 2005 for the original Xbox as a competition for Sony’s massively successful and acclaimed Gran Turismo series of racing simulators. The Motorsport series was a huge success which saw a total of seven sequels that were launched across every Xbox Console generation with each gaining tons of acclaim and accolades.
But after the current massive layoffs by Microsoft, Forza Motorsport as an entire series is reportedly no more as no one at Turn 10 Studios are currently working on it which is both sad and heartbreaking for everyone who has loved the series since it’s first release.
“The legacy will stay,” Russell concluded, “even if there is no future for the game.”
The current round of layoffs marks the 4th round of layoffs at Microsoft and Xbox in the past 18 months which has been devastating not just for the developers involved but also for gaming as a whole.
