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

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fezzik
  • 258 comments
  • 32,440 views
Sucks. MS did give them like 5 years for the new FM and it flopped. That was also after a run of FM5-7 that were all just average at best and had issues. I still loved the more western car lineups that actually had racing cars.

They’ll hang around as a support studio for their engine that’s in Horizon and Fable and probably make some content for FM. Will probably not see another one though.
 
Sucks. MS did give them like 5 years for the new FM and it flopped. That was also after a run of FM5-7 that were all just average at best and had issues. I still loved the more western car lineups that actually had racing cars.

They’ll hang around as a support studio for their engine that’s in Horizon and Fable and probably make some content for FM. Will probably not see another one though.


I would not hold my breath that Horizon is safe either, on LinkedIn in Looks Like many of the Environment and car people from PG have been let go, too
 
This, right here, is what gives me just a little bit of hope. I don't want to believe that this is the end, but things are looking a bit bleak at the moment 😬
Screenshot_20250703_001704_Chrome.jpg
 
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.
Flight Simulator runs on Asobo's inhouse engine, nothing to do with Turn10.
 
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...
If that’s the case, I’m done with Forza.

I mourn what could have been…
 
As for the layoffs I told you guys it was gonna happen after the game flopped hard, but yall were in denial. Maybe not full closure yet but the studio got crippled hard.
 
Sucks. MS did give them like 5 years for the new FM and it flopped.
Not the devs fault. If T10 were wholly given 5 years the state of this game would be very different. It’s well-known that this game’s staff were contracted for 18 month periods (with a 6 month wait before they can accept another contract) and senior devs were outed.

That strategy predictably did not lead to a very finished or polished game, and pain for a lot of staff.



To have layoff news after seeing this game start to really get traction again, it just sucks.
 
Last edited:
This, right here, is what gives me just a little bit of hope. I don't want to believe that this is the end, but things are looking a bit bleak at the moment 😬
View attachment 1462270
Horrible news today, even though we were warned with the rumours last week, you always hope the final result won't be as bad, but sadly it looks like the rumours were spot on. I feel sorry for all the people let go and hope they find good alternative employment elsewhere.

With the head of audio gone, that says to me (in my opinion) no new cars to come [cars can't be released without audio attached]. And if there aren't going to be more cars, there definitely wouldn't be any further tracks which take much greater resources to build, resources that are no longer there at T10.

"Up and running" to me sounds like the future of FM23 will just be previous Featured Tours returning one per month until they get through the ones already released. The structure seems set up for that to be done with "minimal" effort. And not much else to be honest.

Challenges will be rotated to cover any remaining returning driver suits etc. - again it looks like the game is set up for that to be doable with minimal effort.

It felt like, with update 21, they had finally got some sort of proper structure in the game.

So, now was probably the "easiest" time to take a decision on whether to "stick or twist" with FM23. They've taken the wrong option in my opinion.

But again it's more important to think of the people losing their livelihoods. A game is just a game in the end.
 
Last edited:
As for the layoffs I told you guys it was gonna happen after the game flopped hard, but yall were in denial. Maybe not full closure yet but the studio got crippled hard.
The game was such a "hard flop", they waited 2 years to start the layoffs after launching a recent year of successful updates.

Definitely doesn't have anything to do with the fact that the studio layoffs are amongst 9,000 people being let go to the point, it's been noted that even people from Playground Games are no longer there. 'Cause, you know, Horizon flopped as well.

But hey, now you can get back in the bin where you belong and never return to this thread.
Get Out Theatre GIF by Tony Awards
 
If anyone had even the slightest hope (However missplaced I felt it was) that Motorsport was coming to the PS5, I don't see any of it being left now with this.

I already suspected with how good Forza Horizon was doing (And the numbers on its PS5 release being pretty good) compared to Motorsport's less then steller launch on both PC and console that Microsoft had already decided how the Forza name was going to continue period and now this just seems to all but add to that idea.
 
Last edited:
@Famine This thread should be in FM23 not FM7 forum - presumably auto posted to the wrong place.

They let go of Caviezel? Again!?

I feel for everyone affected by these, quite frankly, dumbass decisions
In amongst the crappy news, this really surprised me the most for some reason.
I would not hold my breath that Horizon is safe either, on LinkedIn in Looks Like many of the Environment and car people from PG have been let go, too
It is possible that the "environment" work is already relatively near to completion on FH6. Assuming it is coming in 2026 the map itself could be well advanced at this point. With regards the car people, I think some/a lot of the work on cars is subcontracted from what I've read before - maybe that's what their planning for FH6, minimal in house staff and rely on.

However, this news doesnt fill me with confidence about the game's release state and post launch support.

Regardless, the important thing is the impact on the staff themselves. Hoping they find alternative work soon.
 
I can't understand what Microsoft has been thinking this entire generation to be honest, they have bought or partnered with every studio and publisher they could get their hands on, they then proceeded mishandle everything and instead of letting studios go independent they just closed them up. I feel sorry for the devs that got laid off, but this industry needs a big reset, for both professionals and consumers.
 
Was Forza ever really any good?
Yup. I had a few criticisms in my review - mainly consistency of quality and some bad choices and oversights - and they've done quite a bit of work to undo some of the choices they insisted were what was good for the game even if the fans mightn't like it. Don't really recall playing it since as it's never really called back to me; I wanted it to be better than it was.
If anyone had even the slightest hope (However missplaced I felt it was) that Motorsport was coming to the PS5, I don't see any of it being left now with this.
Again, Panic Button ported FH5 to PS5 with T10/PG's input (as it did with FH4's Xbox Series port; Sumo did the Steam version). If this strategy is the approach for FM23 as well then even ripped in half it's still something T10 can support.
 
Again, Panic Button ported FH5 to PS5 with T10/PG's input (as it did with FH4's Xbox Series port; Sumo did the Steam version). If this strategy is the approach for FM23 as well then even ripped in half it's still something T10 can support.
Even then, I feel like that's a BIG "If" because that's assuming Microsoft even sees FM23 (or even the franchise itself) remotely salvageable despite it not doing the numbers they seem to demand on release and haven't already decided that Horizon is the way Forza goes forward in a multi-platform future. The studio that made Gravity Rush, a VERY successful game sales wise, still ended up on the chopping block until someone swooped in and got them. If even a successful game doesn't guarantee staying around, I'm not feeling too great about Forza Motorsport's chances.
 
I just jumped in with the anniversary update and I’ve been enjoying my time with the game. The cars feel great to drive with a controller and the AI can put up a pretty good fight. In terms of physics and AI, I much prefer this over the 360 games (which I love mind you). I find the performance on my PC to be very good, getting ~72 FPS and no stuttering with high presets at 1080p (no RT though).

Sure, there are plenty of cars/tracks/features I would like to see, but I figured that they would come in time with regular updates. This is the kind of game that would benefit from a service model IMO, and it’s a shame that it is all in limbo due to the layoffs.

I can only imagine the timeline where the game launched in the state it is now rather than how it actually was… shame how a bad first impression can affect the game’s future. I wouldn’t say this game made as strong of a redemption arc as Driveclub, but I guess in terms of ‘first-party racing games with troublesome launches that got its issues ironed out but the studio was ill-fated’ this game is in pretty good company.
 
Last edited:
I can't understand what Microsoft has been thinking this entire generation to be honest, they have bought or partnered with every studio and publisher they could get their hands on, they then proceeded mishandle everything and instead of letting studios go independent they just closed them up. I feel sorry for the devs that got laid off, but this industry needs a big reset, for both professionals and consumers.
Didn't Microsoft get a new CEO within the past 2 years?
 
Last edited:
Didn't Microsoft get a new CEO within the past 2 years?
Phil Spencer is probably who you're thinking of. He became CEO when they acquired Activison in 2022. He's had a heavy hand in Xbox's decision making for the last decade though, reporting directly to Satya.

His Wiki states he's been the one behind many of the changes which seem ok on paper, but Xbox's market compared to Sony & Nintendo over the years has been constantly slipping, yet he keeps getting promoted.
 
They let go of Caviezel? Again!?

I feel for everyone affected by these, quite frankly, dumbass decisions
What do you mean "dumbass decisions"? Corporations are flawless and the absolute peak of efficiency! They could never make wrong decisions, look, the funny numbers are going up!

This kind of decisions is indicative of a tendency not only limited to the beleaguered gaming industry, but which plagues our modern existence: corporations don't make things anymore, they make share value in stock markets that are increasingly detached from reality; all that matters is short-term profits, which at times may be increased by making significantly less of the thing people expect the corporation to make.
Who needs vision and a cohesive plan when all you need is some dumb cow fattened on equity bonuses to hire a couple thousand people to show growth while chasing the new fad or unrealistic promise of double-digit market growth that makes the shareholders and the markets salivate, and then terminate their contracts when reality comes a-knocking, or when you're moving to the next pie-in-the-sky-that-will-make-us-even-more-obscenely-rich? Randomly hiring and then firing people is a pretty stupid strategy if you're trying to build something; if you're gaming the market, tho, it's just min-maxing.

Satya Nadella will probably get another fat pay increase in FY 2025. Maybe he'll buy himself a Kabbadi team for Christmas.

Yeah, yeah, "leave the political rants for the Opinions & Current Events Section, Clyde". And I would, if some terminally useless husk with a Master in Business Annihilation hadn't decided to make such comments relevant to the Forza Motorsport thread instead.
 
Essentially FM becomes an upgraded version of FM7 which from memory had little or no additional content post release (there were car packs obviously but no additions to the career mode). So I'll slowly go through all the new content from the last update and when that's done I'll revert to setting times in Rivals mode - Got my 1983 Golf GTi up to A Class so far and I've been setting some decent times on certain tracks. Still fun to be had.
 
On the bright side, T10 is still alive as a company. At least Microsoft didn't just close the door on them for good abruptly. There's still things that the team can do or workarounds for the time being while they operate at half staff. Im honestly not expecting any content for the remainder of the year now and maybe some fixes every few months...perhaps September will be the month where we get some more major fixes based on the cycle we have currently from update 21? If they somehow eek out some kind of content between now and December, they can pat themselves on the backs and I would give them major props. But until whenever im just going to enjoy the game for what it has and maybe move on to these bigger sims that are making waves with anticipation of a few others coming out soon.
 
Damn, I live around 40 minutes from the studio. I’ve never owned any Xbox hardware but I enjoyed the FM’s I’ve played (especially 4). While I’ve usually preferred Gran Turismo, having a major player in my favorite genre in my back yard has always been very special, and I’ve gotten to see the car collections of their long-term staff at community events. They even have a (barely) raced 919 in the lobby of their office, which was the first time I’d ever see a modern race car up close:

IMG_0675.jpeg

IMG_0674.jpeg
IMG_0673.jpeg

IMG_0672.jpeg


Hopefully those affected are able to find more work soon, and the franchise is able to continue in some semblance of a healthy way. The tech sector out here is really messy these days.
 
Last edited:
I think the first warning signs that cuts were on the way happened back in January when the roadmap was changed and planned features were being reevaluated, hence why they threw a ton of cars at us between Updates 17 and 20.
 
He's in denial that this is the end for motorsport and turn10 as it was.
My man, you are actively denying the fact that Turn 10 were not the only victims of Xbox layoffs yesterday. First and foremost, there were cuts within a multitude of studios, including Halo Studios, Rare Entertainment, Raven Software and others. Hell, they even shut down The Initiative, cancelling the new Perfect Dark game in conjunction, and cut staff at King Division, the developers behind the proverbial Money Printer that is Candy Crush. You're purposely ignoring the broader context of what's going on here.

Secondly, we, and especially you, also don't know with any degree of certainty that Turn 10 and Forza Motorsport is actually done for, or that Turn 10 is, as you put it...
...being relegated to supporting role...
There's no denying that the current outlook isn't the greatest, but flying away with large, currently unsubstantiated claims in an effort to elevate oneself does not accomplish anything meaningful, nor is it actually helpful.

More than anything else, the fact that you're trying to minimize an event in which roughly 9,000 people actually lost their jobs in one day, and then twist it into a blatantly false narrative that Turn 10 was cut down solely because of FM23 underperforming, despite the fact that the game has actively received nearly 2 years of content updates after launch, very much hurts the "told ya so" that you're attempting to propagate.
 
Last edited:
Back