A new narrative-heavy open-world driving game is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Amazon Games snagged a publishing deal with Maverick Games for the new title, which is being developed by former Forza Horizon staff.
Founded in 2022, Maverick Games is led by several former Forza Horizon series devs, including creative director and studio head Mike Brown, who was formerly the creative director for the popular racing franchise. Other members include executive producer Tom Butcher, chief technical officer Matt Craven, and content director Gareth Harwood. There are 62 devs at the studio in total.
“We founded Maverick Games with a clear vision: to build a developer-first studio that would foster an environment of creativity and risk-taking,” said Brown. “This approach empowers our team to produce the most exceptional work of their careers. And ultimately, that means we are creating a game that our players are going to fall in love with.
“Without giving too much away, I will share that the team here is buzzing with excitement about our game and we can’t wait to share it with the world.”
In January 2023, the studio announced that its first title would be a “premium open-world game for consoles and PC.”
“Lots of great driving games have amazing gameplay, amazing content,” said Brown in a press release. “But to really cross that bridge, to become a game that people genuinely love, then there needs to be that human connection where you’re actually rooting for these characters, falling in love with these characters. That, I think, is a place where our game will be able to really differentiate itself from the other titles in the genre.
There’s nothing about this genre that prevents it from having amazing characters and amazing stories–it’s just not really been explored yet.”
