Microsoft Cuts Forza Motorsport’s Development Staff by “Nearly 50%”

[Fezzik]

“Many of Xbox's subsidiaries are getting hit by the layoffs this morning, including Call of Duty studios such as Raven. Big cuts at Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 - nearly 50% of staff, per source.”

Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport developer hit hard by Xbox cuts

Turn 10 is being hit by layoffs.

www.theverge.com

“Microsoft announced layoffs today affecting as many as 9,000 employees, and as part of the changes, more than 70 people will be let go at Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The cuts were made on a call with Microsoft HR representatives this morning, and are hitting the “vast majority” of the studio. One source described the layoffs as leaving enough people behind to keep Forza Motorsport up and running.”

 

[deththrasher]

Jesus that's savage. Perfect Dark cancelled too. Hope T10 can hire fresh talent in the future and keep going strong

 

[GBalao888]

A post on sound designer Mike Caviezel's Linkedin shows that he was let go.

A short ride in a fast machine. | Mike Caviezel

A short ride in a fast machine. Today, my 2nd stint at Forza/Turn10 and Xbox officially comes to an end, courtesy of mass layoffs (once again). My heart goes out to anyone from MS & Xbox who were in similar meetings today, and frankly anyone who's been hit in the last few years, what an...

www.linkedin.com

 

[karaokequeen3]

Brutal. Absolutely brutal. I'm getting bad vibes about T10 given the 50% cut in staff. That to me does not feel like a studio that will be able to develop a successor to FM (2023)

 

[skazz]

Brutal. Absolutely brutal. I'm getting bad vibes about T10 given the 50% cut in staff. That to me does not feel like a studio that will be able to develop a successor to FM (2023)

FM 2023 was supposed to have a long (5? year) lifespan, so they probably haven't even started a successor yet.

I assume the game engine core team remains to support Flight Simulator and PG (Horizon, maybe Fable), and a skeleton team to do some regular updates to FM2023, but indeed any thought of a successor to FM2023 is indefinitely postponed.

 

[emissary935]

A post on sound designer Mike Caviezel's Linkedin shows that he was let go.

A short ride in a fast machine. | Mike Caviezel

A short ride in a fast machine. Today, my 2nd stint at Forza/Turn10 and Xbox officially comes to an end, courtesy of mass layoffs (once again). My heart goes out to anyone from MS & Xbox who were in similar meetings today, and frankly anyone who's been hit in the last few years, what an...

www.linkedin.com

Huge loss, his work after he came back was crucial to the game. Especially after all that hype, those Q&As. I'm sad for all of the staff has that been sent off today but Caviezel too is real bad.

Game was getting in a decent state sound-wise too

 

[Beebo]

Absolutely brutal cuts. Nevermind the game's future, my heart goes out to those that were let go. Very bad time for the industry right now, and yet Microsoft still takes in profits. To say I'm frustrated with them and tech in general is an understatement. It's all rotting (Especially windows). It is their own contracting methods that likely made this game so rough at launch.

Back on topic, what are we thinking about the future of FM8? I don't quite know what to think yet myself.

 

[KKHN]

A post on sound designer Mike Caviezel's Linkedin shows that he was let go.

A short ride in a fast machine. | Mike Caviezel

A short ride in a fast machine. Today, my 2nd stint at Forza/Turn10 and Xbox officially comes to an end, courtesy of mass layoffs (once again). My heart goes out to anyone from MS & Xbox who were in similar meetings today, and frankly anyone who's been hit in the last few years, what an...

www.linkedin.com

I'm feel sorry for him. His work was essential to enhance the quality of Forza and Gran Turismo.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the sound in Forza Motorsport improved after he came back.

 

[meganinja]

One source described the layoffs as leaving enough people behind to keep Forza Motorsport up and running.

so it means that they will keep with updates, but they will be scarce? likely my theory that they will streamline even more some T10 and PG develoopment around forza may be truth

Could be worse, i saw that xbox had cut lots of projects that were in a development hell worst than FM2023 was, including everwild and perfect dark

BUT, in anyways, see people out of job is never good news, specially on current economy, i just hope that AI bubble dont keep make them cut more and more jobs while good old Satya keeps his salaries and dividends as always...

And what is this successor supposed to be called? Forza Motorsport 2? They already said they were reimaging the series and this was going to be the platform that they build on for the future. Hence it being Forza Motorsport (2023) and not Forza Motorsport 8.

the game is supose to go until 2032 at earlliest, 10+ years or so
i am sure they were designing and planning to this game to survive layoffs like this, this why instead of classic formula they decided too go "Sea of Thieves" or "Fallout 76" rout instead

 

[Nacho Libre]

And what is this successor supposed to be called? Forza Motorsport 2? They already said they were reimaging the series and this was going to be the platform that they build on for the future. Hence it being Forza Motorsport (2023) and not Forza Motorsport 8.

Reiza Studios has 20+ people that work on AMS2 and it's a lot more in depth of a sim than FM with numerous simulated features such as live track, full course yellows and a complete damage simulation including random failures. They also release a good amount of content.
People really need to just settle down and just wait. They very well may have determined what they need to continue the support of adding content and features and just cut the brunt of the initial development project.

They could actually replicate that model, in the sense that Reiza has been working on the foundation laid out by Project Cars. Now that FM has is foundation set (mostly), they can plan on further developments (tracks/cars/game modes, etc.) without being burdened by developing a "next" game. Or if they want to relaunch, they could go the Grid/Grid Legends route (by using mostly the same assets).

And on the layoffs/cancelled games... That's the cost of acquiring Activision/Blizzard/King (A/B/K), and clearly the synergy was not there for many of the studios/games in development... Why have Everwild when Obsidian reliably keeps churning RPGs?, you could reskin Call of Duty and call it Perfect Dark too... At least what sets apart FH/FM is that A/B/K has nothing similar in their portfolio, and Fable may be too advanced to cancel now. It's wild that Microsoft Game Studios looks like the subsidiary entity and not the other way around!

 

[McLaren]

so it means that they will keep with updates, but they will be scarce? likely my theory that they will streamline even more some T10 and PG develoopment around forza may be truth

Could be worse, i saw that xbox had cut lots of projects that were in a development hell worst than FM2023 was, including everwild and perfect dark

BUT, in anyways, see people out of job is never good news, specially on current economy, i just hope that AI bubble dont keep make them cut more and more jobs while good old Satya keeps his salaries and dividends as always...


the game is supose to go until 2032 at earlliest, 10+ years or so

A shame, but seemingly unsurprising. I wondered why there was no new footage of the game since its trailer debut in 2020 & it turns out the game kept getting stuck in development hell & should've been close to release by this point anyway.

 

[RolexGTP]

Absolutely brutal cuts. Nevermind the game's future, my heart goes out to those that were let go. Very bad time for the industry right now, and yet Microsoft still takes in profits. To say I'm frustrated with them and tech in general is an understatement. It's all rotting (Especially windows). It is their own contracting methods that likely made this game so rough at launch.

Back on topic, what are we thinking about the future of FM8? I don't quite know what to think yet myself.

I think any criticism towards T10 in regards to content and fixes we should put a pause on. They are indeed in a tough spot employee wise and can operate with what they have left after all the worker layoffs. I do feel bad because they were going in the right direction and this all probably occurred in succession this year. We saw where things were going with the last big community message I think back in August of last year. But once this year hit we could see the vibe and content change up and even more so the past few months. While update 20 and 21 were bangers, there was still holes in content that have not been filled.

 

[meganinja]

I wondered why there was no new footage of the game since its trailer debut in 2020

without going too much off-topic, it had a trailer last year, but many assume that trailer had fake gameplay to hide the develpment hell

you can watch what the game could had been tho

that FM has is foundation set (mostly), they can plan on further developments (tracks/cars/game modes, etc.) without being burdened by developing a "next" game. Or

as i had mentioning before the idea was never to make a game for the rest of this gen, if we have a motorsport sequel, likely it will be on the late part of next generation, that would be well into the 2030s

I think any criticism towards T10 in regards to content and fixes we should put a pause on

agreed, at least until holidays, we should give a rest on them and support the new updates
hopefuly they will a community letter and comunicatte better what roads they will take from now on

 

[McLaren]

without going too much off-topic, it had a trailer last year, but many assume that trailer had fake gameplay to hide the develpment hell

you can watch what the game could had been tho

Ah. Guess that explains for me why there still wasn't a mention of it during the reveals last month.

 

[ferrarimanf355]

I’m upset at the Turn 10 job losses, I thought the game was getting better with each update. ☹️

 

[nukleabomb]

The head of the Live service program was laid off too...

 

[notarjy]

I’m upset at the Turn 10 job losses, I thought the game was getting better with each update. ☹️

agreed

 

[willbsn13]

View attachment 1462245

The head of the Live service program was laid off too...

Terrible news. I guess it'll be a while before we hear any plans on what's happening with the future of FM2023.

A real shame as the game was starting to really improve. Makes you think about what the future of FM is as a franchise, if there is much of a future at all.

 

[doblocruiser]

that's not what I wanted to read. Bugger! I hope Forza Motorsport remains since the series had a lot going for it and with FM8 the game really became so much better with every single update. Fantastic cars and great tracks...shame if all would be lost.

I wonder what this means for the PS5 version.....

 

[r_outsider]

They could actually replicate that model, in the sense that Reiza has been working on the foundation laid out by Project Cars. Now that FM has is foundation set (mostly), they can plan on further developments (tracks/cars/game modes, etc.) without being burdened by developing a "next" game. Or if they want to relaunch, they could go the Grid/Grid Legends route (by using mostly the same assets).

And on the layoffs/cancelled games... That's the cost of acquiring Activision/Blizzard/King (A/B/K), and clearly the synergy was not there for many of the studios/games in development... Why have Everwild when Obsidian reliably keeps churning RPGs?, you could reskin Call of Duty and call it Perfect Dark too... At least what sets apart FH/FM is that A/B/K has nothing similar in their portfolio, and Fable may be too advanced to cancel now. It's wild that Microsoft Game Studios looks like the subsidiary entity and not the other way around!

The base of Forza Motorsport is more than good enough to warrant an expansion model rather than a new game every two years. In these days of Gamepass it's probably the sensible option.

Activision was peanuts compared to the money pit that is OpenAI...

 

[AMR Matthijs]

Absolutely awful news 😔 But let's not forget that what for us is ultimately a game meant a livelihood foor all those affected by these layoffs and I truly feel for them...

This news also makes me think if they knew what was coming and put out Update 21 to ensure that through the Champions Cup we have plenty to go through in the coming months.

I personally hope that Turn 10 will regroup from this and that after that they will communicate what can be expected going forward. I hope there is still some content in the pipeline.

 

[Tired Tyres]

I'm feel sorry for him. His work was essential to enhance the quality of Forza and Gran Turismo.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the sound in Forza Motorsport improved after he came back.

Hopefully he can go back to PD.

 

[Chikane_GTR]

It's likely to be Euro based jobs at risk, nothing to do with FM or T10

Close to 50% of t10 layoff yup it had nothing to do with t10 alright.

 

[meganinja]

Makes you think about what the future of FM is as a franchise, if there is much of a future at all.

The base of Forza Motorsport is more than good enough to warrant an expansion model rather than a new game every two years. In these days of Gamepass it's probably the sensible option.

the game will continue, the project was promsied as a long-term update project from get-go, so updates will continue,

the thing now is that will take some time until we know morea about how they will work, unless they were the rare case that knew the layoffs before hand and had it already planned

I wonder what this means for the PS5 version.....

I am pretty sure that they never had a plan to make a PS5 port on the first place, no way with FM going agnaist GT7
FH5 on other hand is guaranteed profit, so both T10 and PG hired panic button and focused on it

Activision was peanuts compared to the money pit that is OpenAI...

i hate big tech for trying hard on AI since they dont have nothing else new to create and thus are pretty much staginating to the point some in the industry are literally associating this stagination with the literal apocalypse

for now, they should stuck on the stuffs thatt gives them money, and for xbox case it is sever hosting, windows, office and xbox

 

[Famine]

This is the discussion thread for an article on GTPlanet:

Microsoft Cuts Forza Motorsport’s Development Staff by “Nearly 50%”​

Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios has lost almost half its staff in one fell swoop, according to industry reports, amid a wide-ranging reduction in staff numbers across Xbox’s various subsidiaries...

 

[MIE1992]

So is it now called "Turn 5 Studios"?

 

[TheOE]

Looking at LinkedIn many people associated with Cars, Tracks, Live Service and Community Management have been let go. So it will pretty surely be the End of Life of the game...

 

[Tired Tyres]

Ouch. That means a PS5 version is not happening then.

 

[Famine]

So is it now called "Turn 5 Studios"?

Two things almost happened with the article. That, and the featured image being this:

Ouch. That means a PS5 version is not happening then.

As FH5's port was handled by another studio (Panic Button) supported by T10/PG, I wonder if any FM23 port would be also managed in that fashion.

 

[kjb]

I believe we are still seeing the fallout from pandemic era hiring. I could be wrong but I do feel bad for those that were laid off