I remember that actually being a rumor last year. I still don't think it's the case, being the last FH, but I do have some feelings about this team leaving the game before even releasing everything we paid for. Even if it isn't directly their fault. To me it either means they didn't care, or the content we're about to get is that bad.
Forza Horizon 5: General Discussion
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INEEDNAWZZZ
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- 1,758
- Lincoln
- EGGSBAWCKS
- DigitalLuke64DD
@PJTierney put it best; all the content and stuff we're getting will have been mapped out years in advance. I'm sure there's a few exceptions or outside issues that could disrupt things (I still maintain the Donut Media series was not meant to have the reward cars it ended up with due to something not being in place in time, same with Fordzathon), but everything with the game will go on without a hitch. The game isn't gonna magically fall apart just because a few key members have left.
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For sure it's probably finished. It's more that they are leaving before its come out. It gives me the impression that they're washing themselves of responsibility with this timing. What about post DLC content like FH4 got (Eliminator and Super 7). I'm sure that's already planned and being worked on, but it doesn't give me a good impression.
- 2,748
- Columbus, Ohio
It gives me the impression that they want to give Playground time to fill the vacated roles before detailed planning on the next game starts, so there's no conflict of ideas. If the remaining content is already finished or planned out to the point where further creative input isn't needed, then there's no point in sitting there doing basically nothing until it's released, which is still some time away.
If they had waited until FH6 was a year+ into development and then lefty, I'd consider that much more concerning as that usually only happens due to internal strife of some kind. This is something that was likely planned for quite some time in advance and certainly not "oh this DLC sucks, we better cut and run". Sometimes people do leave their jobs on good terms, after all.
If they had waited until FH6 was a year+ into development and then lefty, I'd consider that much more concerning as that usually only happens due to internal strife of some kind. This is something that was likely planned for quite some time in advance and certainly not "oh this DLC sucks, we better cut and run". Sometimes people do leave their jobs on good terms, after all.
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- 241
- Spain
Letting FH rest for a while would be nice.
I think there are several of us who are tired of always doing the same thing, just playing the game weekly to reach 20 forzathon points and get the new car.
I don't find an incentive to continue playing.
Maybe the return of PGR, Rallisport Challenge or Midtown Madness it would be a good idea while working on a new Horizon that brings new things.
Something similar to what they have done with Motorsport.
FM7 was released in 2017. They have had a lot of time to work on the reboot.
I think there are several of us who are tired of always doing the same thing, just playing the game weekly to reach 20 forzathon points and get the new car.
I don't find an incentive to continue playing.
Maybe the return of PGR, Rallisport Challenge or Midtown Madness it would be a good idea while working on a new Horizon that brings new things.
Something similar to what they have done with Motorsport.
FM7 was released in 2017. They have had a lot of time to work on the reboot.
The issue that gives me the negative feelings isn't that they're leaving at all. It's that the direction FH has gone since 4 means it has become "a game that never ends," essentially. Had this been done with this timing in a game more like FH3, yeah this wouldn't mean anything to me. I would bet FH6 is already a year+ into development as well, if it's being made. Especially if that rumor that they had to change back to the old engine halfway through development, for FH5, was true.
- 495
- United States
Fun little fact: Forza Horizon did start as the spiritual successor of Project Gotham Racing. Hence why there was an easter egg in FH4. And what I wouldn't give for a revival of the Midtown Madness series. It hasn't been around since 2003 and it's a shame it'll never be played again for future generations.
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- cutback73
- cutback73
For sure, as they're not being "fired", this departure has been known about internally and agreed MONTHS ago, at least in terms of the high level personnel. These kind of high level structural changes don't just happen overnight.
In my opinion, its being made public now partly because they are setting up the new company and it would leak out anyway otherwise, and partly because they've now reached the point where departure is triggered which would have been agreed some time ago internally with Microsoft/Turn10. Most likely that means expansion 2 is virtually complete and any further development of FH4 has been mapped out in sufficient detail.
It does sound like the key individuals involved had got "bored" a bit, developers also tend to like to have maximum creative freedom if they can which may be a factor.
To my eyes, this scenario seems very similar to the Rocksteady one where they stayed on until an announcement was made at virtually the same time of year, last year.
Another timing point - financial year ends for American groups and their subsidiaries are 31 December and any bonuses/share options etc are often linked to that date. These amounts can be substantial for the individuals, obviously!
Also, assuming this was agreed before 31 December, there could be public disclosure requirements for stock exchange filings coming up related to 31 December 2022.
For example, if agreed before 31 December, the filed accounts might have to potentially accrue for any Restructuring Provisions.
Any and all of the above means it is a good time now to release the info themselves with their own narrative, rather than have it leak somehow and people come up with random conspiracy theories.
As you can tell from the above I'm an accountant 😂 - I thought some of this might be helpful to others to be aware of though.
Regarding the future, beyond the immediate future and expansion 2, we are probably not going to hear much from PGG for some time, until they want to (because they have good news to share) or have to (because they don't have good news) make an announcement about their next game.
Maverick however will be in the opposite situation. They will want to encourage potential investors and other parties as much as they can, which means getting the word out there and being as public as they can about their game.
Which won't be allowed to be called anything that sounds remotely like Forza or Horizon ( there will be all sorts of legal things they've signed about that!)
- 1,664
- New Zealand
Currently he is the creative director Playground Games - working on the Fable team - not the Forza team. Hence why you never hear from him anymore.
With regards to the news of Mike Brown & co leaving, 100% agree with @PJTierney in that in the immediate future, not much will change.
It contextualizes some of the comments Torben was making a couple Forza monthly's ago - about trying different things in the Festival Playlist, removing Series numbers, Series having more of a coherent theme running through them.
Clearly there has been some teething issues as the guard as changed over from Mike Brown to I assume Torben (not sure who the current Creative director is) with the whole well documented Donut Media/Fordzathon issues.
Now with that change made though, the festival playlist is something the new leadership team can change relatively quickly. It'll be interesting to see if we see some changes to the playlist, like new different types of events or how exclusives cars are handled/brought to the game. Maybe it'll just be the exact same status quo as it's been for the past year, but it's something definitely the new team could adjust pretty easily.
Interesting to note that it's quite a bit of senior talent going as well - like the Lead Audio, TO, Executive Producer. Hopefully PG has good internal talent to replace the loss of the senior workers, though we might not see the ramifications of this move, good or bad until many years from now, if at all.
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- 13,155
- GTPlanet
- Street-King-07
- Quattro Saltire
Maybe a change in leadership at PG can break them out of the cycle of risk-averse complacency thats been dogging them in FH4 and FH5.
If the next game takes a bolder approach and actually takes some risks in its design decisions, maybe the series can get back on track.
If the next game takes a bolder approach and actually takes some risks in its design decisions, maybe the series can get back on track.
- 495
- United States
Even with a change in leadership, the damage has already been done to this game. FH5 is somehow a worse version of FH4 magnified. As with previous posts attest we'll have to wait until FH6 in 2025 or 2026 to see any real change, which is probably minimal at best. But what do I know, I don't have a crystal ball predicting PG's future.
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I feel like it even trickles into FH3. The past three games are essentially the same, with just different maps. Play for a month, and you get burnt out.
- 141
- Melbourne, Australia
- ALLSETFORMOVE
I don't know, Forza Horizon 5 isn't as exciting and unique as Horizon or Horizon 2... Don't get me wrong, it's a good game and all, just...kind of boring tbh.
This can be a great opportunity for the team to slow down a bit and reconsider the future of Forza Horizon. Yet, we need more racing games to fill the time gap. Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a good start maybe...
This can be a great opportunity for the team to slow down a bit and reconsider the future of Forza Horizon. Yet, we need more racing games to fill the time gap. Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a good start maybe...
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- 376
- United States
I don't get it -- I mean, I get that there's something "off" with the game's longevity, and I feel like I'm not having as much fun as I expected, but I don't know what there is about the gameplay itself that could be fixed. The cars are fun to drive, and while I get the gripes about AI, the number of racing games released this century with what could be considered satisfying, challenging AI could probably be counted on one hand. The post-launch window of content's been somewhere between what I expected and an actual disappointment, but since devs are generally not forthcoming about why things wind up screwy in their games (there has to be more to the Donut Media disappointment than simply "yeah we just jury-rigged it 'cause we're lazy, whoops"), it's all up to players to try and guess, which means speculation and projection ("PG just don't care") in lieu of any actual information or reasoning. Maybe it's just a matter of FH5 just not being abstractly compelling enough in some intangible way -- setting, characters, progression, those kinds of things that make a game feel more "alive" even if the actual gameplay beneath is already engaging. Maybe everyone's just sick of Big Map Crammed With Icons open-world tropes after Elden Ring? Who even knows (though now that I've invoked Elden Ring, I kind of want to see what a roguelite/RPG racing game would be like).
It's frustrating, but I feel like why this game and this franchise are threatening to become stale seems like a matter that's actually out of the devs' hands. And this is tied in to my feelings about the genre as a whole.
I have this uneasy feeling we're about to enter a dark age of racing games after seeing what happened to so many different studios and projects over the last couple years (shouts out / RIP to DIRT, Project Cars, and whatever on earth it was that Motorsport Games was trying to pull, not to mention the big MTX/grind-fiasco hit to GT7's rep). Basically our only real choices right now are a few super-hardcore sims with no real casual audience-growing appeal beyond the triple-screen Fanatec rig diehards (and nothing interesting on the horizon -- what, Rennsport trying to horn in on ACC's GT3 fixation is supposed to excite me?), a couple name-recognition franchises (NFS, Forza Horizon) barely keeping arcade racers alive while leaning into Fortnite-y youth-chasing Sports Car Kidz Club No Adults Allowed trendiness, and the casual sims/semi-sims/(ugh) "simcade" titles like Forza Motorsport, GT, and maybe the Codemasters F1 games that are the closest we still get to crossover-friendly blockbusters -- and this isn't 1998, when something like the first Gran Turismo seemed novel enough of a "killer app" to sustain a dozens-of-millions playerbase. If the Forza Motorsport relaunch doesn't reinvent itself out of the directionless, inertia-driven complacency of FM7 and move units in the process, it's basically back to hoping the Assetto Corsa mod scene still has a couple tricks up its sleeve.
It's frustrating, but I feel like why this game and this franchise are threatening to become stale seems like a matter that's actually out of the devs' hands. And this is tied in to my feelings about the genre as a whole.
I have this uneasy feeling we're about to enter a dark age of racing games after seeing what happened to so many different studios and projects over the last couple years (shouts out / RIP to DIRT, Project Cars, and whatever on earth it was that Motorsport Games was trying to pull, not to mention the big MTX/grind-fiasco hit to GT7's rep). Basically our only real choices right now are a few super-hardcore sims with no real casual audience-growing appeal beyond the triple-screen Fanatec rig diehards (and nothing interesting on the horizon -- what, Rennsport trying to horn in on ACC's GT3 fixation is supposed to excite me?), a couple name-recognition franchises (NFS, Forza Horizon) barely keeping arcade racers alive while leaning into Fortnite-y youth-chasing Sports Car Kidz Club No Adults Allowed trendiness, and the casual sims/semi-sims/(ugh) "simcade" titles like Forza Motorsport, GT, and maybe the Codemasters F1 games that are the closest we still get to crossover-friendly blockbusters -- and this isn't 1998, when something like the first Gran Turismo seemed novel enough of a "killer app" to sustain a dozens-of-millions playerbase. If the Forza Motorsport relaunch doesn't reinvent itself out of the directionless, inertia-driven complacency of FM7 and move units in the process, it's basically back to hoping the Assetto Corsa mod scene still has a couple tricks up its sleeve.
- 10,735
- Plymouth, UK
- motorforum
I wouldn't mind something like Driveclub's point-2-point tracks in a future Horizon game, but on a longer scale and in the manner of a greatest hits of driving roads from around the world. I have the Stelvio Pass on Beam NG, for example, and that is so much more satisfying and challenging, despite being relatively low speed.
Horizon really needs to do something new for the series. Yet another bland open map with marker after marker of similar events won't hold my attention much longer.
Racing Lagoon probably ticks enough boxes there to be of interest - losing upgrades when you lose races is one of the most brutal mechanics I've come across in any racer, but on the other hand it's very satisfying to pillage your opponents for new parts.
- 1,664
- New Zealand
I would kill for a rogue-lite style optional campaign for FH5. Completely separate garage/economy/race set and you risk losing your car's upgrades or even your car completely if you lose the next race. Something a little different that would definitely spice the monotony of the Festival Playlist right up.
- 495
- United States
To be honest I've never ever heard of Racing Lagoon, and that is saying much. What is that particular game about?
- 2,817
- Lincoln
- Victory_Reign93
- Linthium Reign
Best way of describing it in a nutshell is, Classic Final Fantasy, But with real world cars.
Fitting considering they were both made by SquareSoft.
Was never sold outside Japan so it was never translated to English, that was until late 2021 when it was fully translated to English.
The Story is worth a watch on Youtube, but in my view the biggest takeaway from it is car customisation.
Even by today’s standards, it’s pretty radical, engine swaps, drivetrain swaps, chassis swaps AND you can even modify the body’s to accept new drivetrain layouts.
The best part? it’s all visually noticeable, especially when applying most of the body kits.
So if you even wanted to see what a Civic would look like with a RR layout or a AE86 dressed up like a Group C prototype, that video shows you pretty much everything.
It’s worth looking for a full translated walkthrough of the game for the story as it’s kind of tricky to explain and somehow make sense of it all in a bite size post.
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- Grea'er Laandan
- UKMikeyA
- UKMikeyA
It’s worth looking for a full translated walkthrough of the game for the story as it’s kind of tricky to explain and somehow make sense of it all in a bite size post.
- 495
- United States
I got mine now! I will get its regular XPower (in-name only) 6 eventually whenever I can.
Surprisingly it handles superior as well, just like the L&C 03 TCR. I hope this makes it to the FM reboot.
Surprisingly it handles superior as well, just like the L&C 03 TCR. I hope this makes it to the FM reboot.
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Did anyone noticed that the stock rear track width of the MG6 Xpower TCR on FH5 is shorter than the real counterpart? (IRL the car rear tires are closer to the overfender)
Luckily there is option to increase it to a proper amount like in real life (first option after stock on rear track width) but I don't know why they didn't just put it as stock instead of the current setup.
Luckily there is option to increase it to a proper amount like in real life (first option after stock on rear track width) but I don't know why they didn't just put it as stock instead of the current setup.
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