A former Turn 10 Studios employee has announced that Forza Motorsport and its team have shuttered. While there’s no official word from the studio yet, the insider information adds to a series of updates and leaks swirling throughout the gaming industry amid Microsoft’s latest layoffs. If true, it’s a sad day for Forza Motorsport fans, even if the broader Forza series carries on.
Several Microsoft-owned studios have already announced cutbacks and cancellations amid the mass firings. Turn 10 hasn’t made any formal announcement regarding the restructuring, but the Forza Motorsport team was “bracing for layoffs”, according to one report. It seems now that the brace was unfortunately necessary, with the studio facing an uncertain future after the reported cancellation of its flagship series.
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In a Facebook post shared on Resetera, former Turn 10 Studios employee Fred Russell said that the company had stopped work on Forza Motorsport and disbanded the team working on it. Russell offers no more details beyond that, and it’s unclear where exactly the information is coming from, but as someone who has previously worked on the series, he likely has ties to current employees with insider knowledge. As sad as the report is, it would make sense, too, even though Forza Motorsport just celebrated its 20th anniversary, given the higher popularity of Forza Horizon and the ongoing Microsoft layoffs.
Turn 10 Studios Has Reportedly Ended Work on Forza Motorsport
Russell did not say that Turn 10 was closing entirely, with his wording suggesting that it was rather downsizing and shifting focus away from Motorsport. Some have theorized that the studio may be transitioning to a support team for the Forza Horizon series, which has been a bright spot for Microsoft lately. The release of Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 reportedly made Xbox over $100 million in revenue, becoming a shining example of the company’s recent strategy of moving away from console exclusivity. Still, how exactly things will go for the Turn 10 team from here is uncertain.
Forza is far from the only iconic Microsoft series to suffer some setbacks amid the current round of layoffs. An anonymous developer has claimed that Halo Studios has lost at least five employees from the company’s cost-cutting measures, following a gradual shift to contracted development. Call of Duty and The Elder Scrolls Online have also felt the impact on their teams. News of more studios and games suffering the effects may come out in the days to come, too, considering the scope of the planned firings, although Xbox is just part of Microsoft’s global presence.