Another games studio set up by former employees of Playground Games — the developer behind the Forza Horizon series — has confirmed that it is working on a new racing game, with Lighthouse Games now entering the genre.
It’s possibly not the most surprising of announcements, given the leadership at Lighthouse and its recruitment over the past couple of years, but nonetheless the studio’s direction wasn’t confirmed until an interview with CEO Gavin Raeburn in gamesindustry.biz.
Raeburn, formerly of Codemasters, co-founded Playground with Ralph Fulton and Trevor Williams in 2009 and led the company through the development of the first Forza Horizon, along with all four of its sequels so far. He subsequently left the company in January 2022, a little over three years after Microsoft bought PG out.
Initially formed in July 2022 and still in Leamington Spa, UK, Lighthouse wasn’t widely announced until early 2023 by which time the studio had assembled a team of around 30. They largely comprised ex-Playground and ex-Codemasters staff, including vehicle handling specialists Marco Conti and David Greco.
The confirmation that the studio is working on a driving game is therefore not a huge shock, but Raeburn and publishing director Alex Bertie were able to share a little more information in the interview.
Lighthouse’s goal is essentially to take on Forza Horizon but not by replicating its format. Noting that FH’s success has driven many other developers down a similar path, Raeburn states that there’s room to “do something that is very different and disruptive in the racing market”.
Quite what that means is under wraps for now, but Raeburn is unequivocal in saying “we’re not building Horizon”, and is instead doing something new in the racing game space to “satisfy a latent desire for different types of car games”.
The as-yet unnamed title doesn’t have a publisher at present, but it will be based on Unreal Engine. Lighthouse has also secured investment from Tencent — allowing the studio to grow to 130 staff currently, and with recruitment still active.
Of course it’s not the only Leamington Spa-based new games development studio set up by ex-Playground staff right now, as Maverick Games is also likely working on a racing game — in a similarly unannounced state — in partnership with Amazon.
Hopefully we’ll have more information on both projects soon, so watch this space!
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