Playground Games Limited is a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa, England. It is known for developing the ''

Forza Horizon ''Forza Horizon'' is a 2012 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 on 23 October 2012. The game is the fifth instalment of the '' Forza'' series, having originally spun-off from Turn ...

'' series, which is part of the larger '' Forza'' franchise. In 2018, Playground Games became part of

Microsoft Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

(now known as Xbox Game Studios). They are also developing the next game in the ''

Fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse (poetry), verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphized, and that illustrat ...

'' series.

History

Playground Games was founded by Gavin Raeburn, Trevor Williams and Ralph Fulton; the studio was announced in November 2009, with its opening scheduled for early 2010. Playground Games announced their first project, ''

'', in 2012. The title was developed in collaboration with Turn 10 Studios and published by

for

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

in October that year. The studio released '' Forza Horizon 2'' on Xbox 360 and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

in September 2014, and '' Forza Horizon 3'' on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows in September 2016. In February 2014, Playground Games announced that they were forming a new development team focused on mobile games. In February 2017, the studio detailed plans to open a second studio, focusing on a non-racing open-world video game project. In November, they announced they had leased St. Albans House in Leamington Spa, which would provide the new studio with more than 17,000 square feet of office space. Expected headcounts for both studios were in excess of 200 people. At

E3 2018 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 (E3 2018) was the 24th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

announced they had acquired Playground Games, which became part of Microsoft Studios (now known as Xbox Game Studios). At the same time, Microsoft Studios also announced '' Forza Horizon 4'', which would be released on 2 October 2018, and that the studio was working on an unannounced AAA Open-World Action RPG project, later revealed to be in the ''Fable'' franchise. In January 2022, it was reported that co-founder and studio director Gavin Raeburn left Playground Games, while GM Trevor Williams replaced him as studio head.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2010 establishments in England 2018 mergers and acquisitions British companies established in 2010 British subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies based in Leamington Spa First-party video game developers Forza Microsoft subsidiaries Video game companies established in 2010 Video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies Xbox Game Studios