Playground Games and Turn 10 combining into one studio for Forza and Fable

Xbox has announced that Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios, the teams behind Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport, will merge into a single studio as part of the company’s ongoing restructuring.

Alongside putting Obsidian under Bethesda and Halo under Activision, Microsoft is also making a big change to Playground Games and the Forza franchise as a whole. Turn 10, the original Forza studio, will now be merged with Playground Games, creating one larger team to oversee Fable and Forza development moving forward.

Playground and Turn 10 have collaborated closely for more than a decade, with Horizon and Motorsport sharing technology, tools and engine work. Today’s change formalises that partnership into one unified team. Microsoft says the consolidation is intended to strengthen key franchises and streamline publishing and development across Xbox Game Studios.

The announcement arrives alongside broader restructuring efforts, including role cuts, studio divestitures and several teams transitioning to independence. Ninja Theory, meanwhile, was unable to secure a buyer and is now entering consultation on closure.

KitGuru Says: With Playground and Turn 10 now operating as one team, it’ll be interesting to see how future Forza titles evolve. Do you think this merger will benefit the series?

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