Amazon Games has announced a collaboration with Maverick Games, a new studio founded by the creative forces behind the Forza Horizon series. The partnership is set to deliver a narrative-led, open-world driving game, which will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Maverick Games, launched in 2022, is the brainchild of several key figures from the Forza Horizon team, including Mike Brown, the former creative director of the franchise. Now at the helm of Maverick Games, Brown and his team are bringing their expertise to this new venture with Amazon.
The Maverick Games team is a collection of seasoned gaming industry veterans who worked on the Forza Horizon series and other popular racing titles, including executive producer Tom Butcher (F1 All-Stars), CTO Matt Craven (GRID, DIRT), content director Gareth Harwood, audio director Fraser Strachan, art director Ben Penrose, and Visual Design Director Elly Marshall (DIRT).
In an interesting twist, Jamie Brittain, co-creator of the BAFTA award-winning British TV show Skins, has been appointed as the lead writer.
“Lots of great driving games have amazing gameplay, amazing content. But to really cross that bridge, to become a game that people genuinely love, then there needs to be that human connection where you’re actually rooting for these characters, falling in love with these characters,” said Brown.
He continued, “I really believe in the power of good characters. And I think the reason Skins became a cult-like sensation is because of those characters. It is through the power of those characters and the flaws and the interesting quirks they have that makes the show resonate so well with people. And that is Jamie’s superpower: it’s creating those characters that are flawed and actually a little bit weird – just like the rest of us – and through that we can empathize with them, we can fall in love with them.”
While specific details about the game are still under wraps, the combination of the Forza Horizon veterans’ expertise in creating immersive open-world driving games and Brittain’s narrative prowess promises an interesting new addition to the genre. As always, we’ll keep a close eye out for news on the project as it develops.
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