A co-founder of Playground Games Gavin Raeburn has left the studio after 12 years and a fellow founder Trevor Williams will take over as studio head.
Playground Games' co-founder and studio director Gavin Raeburn has left the studio after 12 years. Raeburn was a founding member of the studio, who worked on the prolific Forza series. Trevor Williams, general manager and fellow co-founder, is set to replace Raeburn as studio head.
Microsoft confirmed the news to Windows Central. The decision seems to be a mutual consensus: "We thank Gav for his leadership and contributions to the Forza franchise and wish him all the best," Microsoft's CVP of Forza and Fable, Alan Hartman said.
Gavin Raeburn, Trevor Williams, and creative director Ralph Fulton co-founded Playground Games in 2009. Together they made what has later become one of Microsoft's most important studios, and contributed to the development of the Forza Horizon series, an open-world racing video game, a spin-off of Microsoft's Forza Motorsport series – Microsoft's flagship at the time.
Playground Games keeps working on the updates to Forza Horizon 5 as well as on a reboot of the Fable franchise. Released in 2021, Forza Horizon 5 hit 10 million players in less than one week after its launch, making it the biggest first week in Xbox and Xbox Game Pass history.
There's no information about where Gavin Raeburn is going to head next. However, his contribution to the industry is immense as well as his input to Playground Games.
You can learn more about Gavin Raeburn's resignation here.
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