Former Forza devs form Maverick Games to develop AAA open-world title for consoles and PC
Maverick Games is a new independent studio founded by several Playground Games veterans. Former Forza Horizon developers are working on an announced AAA game for consoles and PC.
Maverick has already secured seed funding, according to a press release. The sum and other financial terms remain undisclosed.
The Leamington Spa-based studio is led by Mike Brown, former creative director at Playground Games. He is joined by COO Harinder Sangha, who previously served as co-studio head at Sumo Digital Leamington.
Other team members include:
- CTO Matt Craven — former Playground technical director and Codemasters lead programmer;
- Executive producer Tom Butcher — former Playground lead producer, who also worked at Codemasters and Full Flat;
- Audio director Fraser Strachan — he previously held the same position at Playground Games;
- Art director Ben Penrose — former Sharkmob art director, who also spent nine years at Playground;
- UX/UI director Elly Marshall — former Electronic Arts experience design director.
Brown noted that he wants to encourage employees to take creative risks and try new things. That’s why Maverick Games is branded as a developer-first studio “where talented individuals are nurtured, inspired and flourish.”
Right now, Maverick Games is hiring for roles across all disciplines to develop an untitled, premium AAA game. There are not many details about the project despite it being an open-world title for consoles and PC.
As Brown told GamesIndustry.biz, the studio must adapt to the way today’s players consume content in the era of TikTok and subscription services like Game Pass: “We need to build our games where we are always addressing every player, always giving them something to do, never letting them to get to that bit in a game where it’s just going to repeat for 15 hours until you get to the credits.”
