Goes someway to explaining the whole feeling in FH5 that no one really cares that much and just going through the motions.Its not a bad game by any stretch,just a little disappointing with how it is vs how it could be.
dlc2 is going to be lego isn’t it ? 
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Keep in mind that hundreds of people make these games. Yes the 10 or so people that have left are big names, but that doesn’t mean that the game’s suddenly going to fall apart overnight or drastically change in any way.
You won’t see the real effects of their departure (and who steps up to lead the Forza team) until Forza Horizon 6, as that game’s probably still in pre-production with key features and mechanics being mapped out.
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It’s a monkey’s paw situation. On one hand, I blame Brown and his followers for stripping Horizon of many qualities that has lead to it becoming streamlined (in a bad way) and stale, so a new creative director could be a step in the right direction for giving us something that is still Horizon, but also different this time. Personally, I need a palette cleanser even if it ends up being an experiment that doesn’t work.
On the other hand, as others have mentioned, we could get stuck with a creative lead who is at worse, worse than Brown in terms of creative decisions, or, at best, Microsoft will just appoint someone who intends on continuing Brown’s vision for the series.
What Horizon needs is a creative director who is definitely both a car enthusiast and has played the first game and doesn’t look at every sequel as getting better and better, because, in reality, things already started moving in wrong direction as far back as Horizon 2.
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Hopefully this will bring the much needed refreshment this series has been needing for a long time, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up (taking into consideration recent track record of Xbox not delivering what was promised or just slapping Soon™ on everything). Every Horizon game has been a step forward, except FH5, which was step sideways. So, maybe they felt it was time to do something new with more freedom to pursue their own ideas.
Anyways, good luck and all the best to Mike Brown and others on their new journey.
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Well, the devs that are leaving held significant influence over the development of the game. I mean the Creative Director is pretty much the guy that’s indirectly responsible for every major detail the game has, from progression, to art design, to worldbuilding, to game mechanics. He may have not designed it himself, but he definitely overlooked, managed, and approved/disapproved features during development.
These guys aren’t some small names at the bottom of the credits, their basically the people responsible for the entire feel of the game, both from a stylistic and gameplay standpoint.
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I’m well aware of their importance; I work with similar people every day on games you do and don’t know about.
The point I’m making is that this won’t affect Forza Horizon 5 as much as people think, because that game has already been designed and is now in the live service part of its product cycle.
The next game, that’s where a new creative lead can build their own vision for what a Forza Horizon game should be, and we’ll have to wait 2-3 years to see how that pans out.
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Well, I think everyone has to temper their expectations when it comes to new cars now….I hope I’m wrong but I’m not expecting to many more new-to-Forza cars now (for the exception of the 2nd expansion).
This is definitely an indication of changing focus for playground. Fable becomes the priority and horizon 2nd, IMO. Just too much evidence from the current level of apathy….but heh, got a series X and now can enjoy eventlab creations that actually work…so I’ll be entertained until Motorsport comes out.
Certainly won’t be expecting anything to new for horizon at this point.
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They left because of us, I guarantee it, but not in a bad way towards us it’s literally because they know we are right and they should be fixing what needs to be fixed and going ahead with all these requested features and upgrades for cars, knowing they could make this so much fun for everyone, but since microflop hostile takeover, they have no freedom to do new things.
they never seemed happy on the monthly’s you could see the frustration on they’re faces (looks like they were expressing “look guys I know this is sh1zer but it’s the best we’re allowed to give you”) they were just there to follow the orders of a franchise killing company and keep churning out what they’re told.
They must have been frustrated knowing they could sort out complaints really easily but not being allowed as it might add cost or take time away from another money making scam sorry meant game in progress.
Now it’s a sinking ship, hope them all the best in future endeavours and hope they bring a forza type game that sh175 on this franchise as much as microflop has, and gives us the game we actually wanted from FH in the first place.
That would be a good ending to this saga
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Fix horizon 5? People still expect that.
Nah. 90% of the problems with the game are embedded in the core of the game which is usually adressed during development.
Only a new horizon game can fix these issues.
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I don’t agree with you, MS can have a part in this but the decrease in quality is mainly due to Mike brown and else, not really sure that gamepass is the problem actually but it has become more and more frequent that games decrease in quality
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This was DOA.
I hope this is a change for the good. Mike Brown did seem to be determined to work on anything except a racing game.
Of course there is always the possibility that he was the dam holding the flood of inane nonsense back, and now that he’s gone Microsoft is going to stuff the game full of metric driven, poorly tested and supported crud. Looking at their history managing developers in the past, I’m not filled with confidence.
I do have hope though.
I’m curious to see what kind of non-racing game Mike Brown is going to make. There is a lot of potential there, but also a lot of risk. I think make or break for them is if they hire a good writer.
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Mike Brown is gone, Microsoft may take a bigger lead inbthe Forza franchise. I have a two word thought on the subject - Flight Simulator.
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Meaning?
Yes, I’m curious with this as well. The current Flight Simulator is amazingly stunning visually, and I haven’t seen many complaints from the “normals” that do you tube videos.
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Well, if Microsoft is in control of Flight Simulator, and it is a good game. Then just maybe some of that good will rub off on Forza.
::shrug:: As long as the 2nd DLC, whatever it turns out to be, releases on schedule. Beyond that let the chips fall where they may.
Do we have a definitive date for the 2nd expansion? I know what the FM time frame is, but even that isn’t concrete.
support is run by Turn 10 not Playground
Hopefully PG hire some people that are really into motorsports, cars and car culture rather than people that will just phone it in.
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