As first reported by Windows Central, Raeburn’s step back comes as something of a surprise given how well-received Forza Horizon 5 was just a few months ago and the studio hasn’t provided any reasons for the change or what Raeburn will be doing next. It has been confirmed, however, that Playground’s General Manager Trevor Williams will be taking over for Raeburn as the new Studio Director.
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Williams co-founded Playground Games alongside Raeburn and Ralph Fulton back in 2009, so it makes sense why he, of all people, would be the one succeeding Raeburn. It’s currently unclear if Raeburn’s departure from Playground has impacted the development of any upcoming Forza Horizon 5 content or work on Fable 4, however, a statement by Microsoft’s Alan Hartman made to Windows Central says that Williams’ transition to becoming Studio Director was immediate, so there wasn’t much, if any, time Playground spent without a proper director.
Playground Games surprised fans back in 2020 with the announcement that it’s working on a new Fable title. While some were skeptical given that the studio has exclusively worked on the Forza Horizon series up to this point, the overwhelmingly positive reception that Forza Horizon 5 has received since its launch in November 2021 has instilled some hope that the studio’s eye for quality will transfer from its racing franchise to the continuation of the beloved RPG series.
Now that Forza Horizon 5 has been released, fans are expecting to hear more information about Fable 4 sometime soon as it begins to shift to being the studio’s full-time priority. The project has essentially gone completely dark following its announcements having not appeared in any Xbox press events barring statements mentioning that it’s still in development here and there.
As fans continue to wait for Fable 4, they can likely expect to receive some DLC for Forza Horizon 5 as the franchise has received multiple DLC releases following each title’s launch and, given the success of the new game, it seems likely that Playground will want to support it for quite some time. Currently, however, there hasn’t been any announced DLC for Forza Horizon 5.
Forza Horizon 5 is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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Source: Windows Central
