Last week, we learned of massive job cuts across Microsoft’s various divisions that produce Xbox games. Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios was among the departments hardest hit by the move, as The Verge reported that the Redmond, Washington-based team lost over 70 people from its ranks. The layoffs appeared to have affected key individuals across the whole company, from physics and audio leads to artists, engineers, and community support personnel. And it’s left the future of the Motorsport side of the brand in limbo, following a comprehensive live service reboot with the most recent entry released in 2023.
Late last week, an employee who last worked at Turn 10 in 2016 named Fred Russell posted on Facebook that Forza Motorsport was “shuttered,” but the Come on Horizon franchise “would continue.” The Verge’s report linked above states that the layoffs have left “enough people behind to keep Forza Motorsport up and running,” though that doesn’t necessarily mean that the game will receive new content going forward—just that it’ll stay online. Motorsport got a significant update in May celebrating the franchise’s 20th anniversary, bringing a large number of new single-player events, retrospective races, and, most notably, the return of the fan-favorite Fujimi Kaido track to the series.
Last month, before the staff cuts, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer mentioned the arrival of “the next Forza” in 2026, which would coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original Xbox. It was already assumed that this upcoming title would be a new entry in the open-world, arcade Forza Horizon series, rather than a new Motorsport sim, and the Turn 10 layoffs would seem to confirm that. The last Horizon came out in 2021, after all, and that series is managed by U.K.-based Playground Games, unlike Motorsportwhich has always belonged to Turn 10. What’s left of Turn 10 would supposedly assist Playground in building Forza Horizon 6. The Drive has reached out to Microsoft about the future of the Forza Motorsport franchise, and will update this story should we learn anything.
The latest Forza Motorsport was released to mixed reception in October 2023, with many reviewers and gamers praising its handling and rebuilt circuits, but finding fault with its experimental single-player campaign, performance on Xbox consoles and particularly PC, and day-one bugs. In early 2024, one of many contractors who worked on the game shared his account about a challenging development environment.
Forza Motorsport quickly became one of Microsoft’s tentpole gaming properties alongside Halo and Project Gotham Racing toward the tail-end of the original Xbox’s lifecycle. The first entry emerged in May 2005, three months after Gran Turismo 4 dropped on the PlayStation 2. While it was clearly Microsoft’s aim to compete with Sony’s racing simulator, Forza had a different identity, mostly based around letting players do all the things Gran Tourism refused to—including damaging vehicles, modifying them cosmetically, swapping powertrains, and designing liveries.
Forza Motorsport was the grassroots challenger to the more suave and avant-garde Gran Tourismcapturing automotive subcultures from the 2000s tuner boom to golden-age American muscle and contemporary motorsports. And its soundtrack, largely consisting of Junkie XL arrangements of classic guitar rock jams, was the furthest cry imaginable from GT’s jubilant jazz. The series would arguably hit its zenith during the Xbox 360 generation, with FM3 taking Xbox’s racing sim to new heights, and FM4 arguably perfecting the formula. Since the release of Playground Games’ first open-world Come on Horizon game in 2010, however, the more casual spinoff has eclipsed Motorsport in general popularity.
Forza Motorsport hasn’t managed to quite recapture its magic from 15 years ago—and, frankly, neither has Xbox—but there was always this hope that the series would get back on its feet again, and reclaim its place as a leader in the genre, rather than a follower. That dream is sadly looking bleaker than ever, 20 years and two months since the very beginning.
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