Gavin Raeburn (co-founder) is leaving Playground after 12 years and five Forza games.
Is this big news? Will there be a FH6?
Link here: Playground Games Co-Founder Leaves Company After 12 Years
It’s big news for Gavin Raeburn, who is taking some time off after 12 years of working on Forza Horizon games, but it doesn’t impact their development. Co-founder Trevor Williams will transition from General Manager to Studio Head effective immediately, as the Playground Games team focuses on updates to Forza Horizon 5 (and development of Fable).
4 Likes
Congratulations Trevor Williams!
Trevor it’s highly unlikely you will read this message but on behalf of the Forza Horizon community I would like to set a big challenge for you that has an equally big reward. FH5 has a lot of potential but is currently falling short in many areas which we believe can be improved in a variety of ways. These range from QoL improvements, reintroducing features that were removed from previous titles, right through to bug fixes. The challenge is to listen to the feedback from the community (the players that play your game) and address these areas over the next 3 to 6 months. The reward is our loyalty. Thank you.
1 Like
Sounds like it’s not his problem any more. Not that such a fickle reward is that enticing. Another bug crops up and all that vaunted loyalty will crumble as people scream about how we’re the beta testers, we should get refunds, and how everyone involved should be sued and fired because God forbid someone had to see a character dancing in a pair of socks.
4 Likes
Well my uprising lasted all of 10 seconds
1 Like
Anon was addressing the inbound not the departing.
Minimizing issues nice reality. Most of us don’t have blinders on, and overgeneralizing people as fickle and histrionic is patronizing at best.
If you think this product is done, it is not. The enormous list of “issues” doesn’t even cover them all, since some “solved”.
Acknowledged yes. But not solved.
Upside, customers similar to you, which there must be many, take what’s shipped and blissfully enjoy. Good businesses get it right. First time. The rest, well, good luck, they both have your money.
Our business is theirs to lose.
8 Likes
No, he wasn’t. He clearly directed it at Gavin, the guy who’s leaving, setting “a big challenge” for him. The “inbound” is allegedly Trevor Williams.
Haha no that’s my bad. I meant the new guy. I’ll edit my post.
2 Likes
Fairly evident from the context that he made a mistake with the names. Easily done, I’ve never heard of either of them.
2 Likes
Not really. Given all the absurd righteous outrage around here, ‘you can’t leave, I challenge you to come back and fix your game’ seemed far more likely than getting the name right in his first post but then somehow getting confused about it in his subsequent post hardly a twitch of the scroll bar later. Of course, whether trying to lasso back the top guy who’s leaving or get the attention of the new studio head - it’s über-Karen-ing either way. I want to talk to the manager’s manager, essentially.
1 Like
nvm
1 Like
why am I starting to recognize certain names as always appearing in certain threads ? GL to the old guy in his future endeavors and thanks for all the horizon, welcome to the new guy, will be expecting big things from you (no pressure).
2 Likes
The way you act like the studio’s lapdog is disgusting, but suits all of you.
1 Like
If I could tell by context, and commented so, I’d guess it’s not that difficult. Why would someone beseech someone that left?
Yet again with the disingenuous name-calling and sweeping generalizations. LOL. Evidently others agreed.
If a message board isn’t for discussion, what IS it for? You’re a Mod, you read the same stuff I do here. I don’t recall some names I run across here from FH3/4/FM5/6 boards, and I’m around a bit. If we need modding, PM me, or clarify who may post in “certain threads”. Or is that a not so subtle declaration of trouble makers? That news broke earlier yesterday, I didn’t bother posting it. Didn’t seem OP had mal-intent nor I. My only thought was someone fell on their sword, which is overly optimistic but hopeful. As a mod elsewhere, I tried to not issue veiled comments, but that’s just me. Agree, good luck to guy in new position. He’ll be busy.
4 Likes
Finally someone said it. I get it that being a mod can be difficult, but I’ve seen quite a few threads get closed because the mods just didn’t personally like it and not because it violated forums rules. I’ll never forget how a thread had been necroposted and a mod (not saying who) felt compelled to close it because it wasn’t to their liking.
4 Likes
Im not surprised… he is smart and left while he could. 
People leaving from senior position is never a good sign however you spin it. Unless they are retiring.
Mike Ybarra was one of the greatest supporters of Xbox on the internet and a true ambassador for the brand. Then he left for Activision. Why? You can speculate.
I remember when people started to leave 343i. Tim Longo, then Chris Lee… then we saw Craig in Microsoft’s event. The only reason Halo had some quality when it released is because they called in firefighter Joseph Staten to the rescue… With new studio The Initiative you also had people leaving not long before “co-development” with Crystal Dynamics was announced.
In Forza itself, they literally bombed their entire community team back in 2019 I think? Mechberg must not have appreciated the toxic stream chats and community interactions, but he was by far the best liaison Forza has ever had and a good player as well. Soon after he left, communication between T10 and the fans became almost non-existent. With regards with PG it was the same, I know there was a “story” with RetroKrystal, who IMO wasn’t suited to the job but still performed the best she could. Then we got Nitro Glitter who was absolutely terrible and then, nothing, because Microsoft decided to sweep the issues under the rug.
Obviously not the same situation with FH5, who’s coming off raving reviews and 10+ million players. However, a change in management usually signals a change in direction. People are different, even if they think the same. Difficult to say what’s Trevor’s philosophy, as most PG head figures are not well known. But, considering the recent changes in the game, I’m expecting them to actually reinforce the recent bad practices. Which I find distasteful. So I won’t be playing.
9 Likes
What “we’re” interested in is the direction this new leadership might take around FH5. We know what the current state is. We know there will be 2 expansions. We know the player base is bleeding. We know how the game can be improved. We know what to expect from the past. What we don’t know is whether there will be the necessary change now to save FH5 and arguably future Horizon titles.
I sincerely hope they don’t continue as they have and consider FH5 a finished product and focus solely on FH5 expac 1 and motorsport. They NEED to invest time, money, resources into FH5 to address QoL improvements, bug fixes and reintroduce features removed or add new features that promote replayability. They MUST do this otherwise the player base will bleed out completely. These forums will become barren. Many players will move on.
I’m also aware there are many new car games set for release in 2022. There’s no reason with a little effort that FH5 could dominate these games. But it won’t unless change happens.
Trevor let’s make change! Don’t bleed me too… FH5 could be Soo much more than it currently is.
1 Like
Are there any members left in leadership positions from the old Bizarre Creations (PGR) days?
1 Like
I wish people stopped arguing in my threads. I don’t care if you’re right or wrong. I create threads for the community to discuss specific topics and would appreciate if everyone could stay on topic.
Thank you to those that corrected me on the wrong name I used. No thanks to those that took it as an opportunity to argue. I don’t care to argue. I care about discussion around the topic at hand.
2 Likes