It looks like Forza’s shift to an annual release schedule is cementing itself, as a Forza Horizon sequel was hinted at by the LinkedIn profile of a Playground Games team member.
2011’s Forza 4 was followed last year by Forza Horizon, the first game developed by a team other than Turn 10 Studios. Playground Games took on the development duties for the spin-off, which gave the series a carnival setting, featuring the fictional Horizon Festival and lacking the real world tracks of the main series. With Forza 5 in development back at Turn 10, what are Playground Games up to?
Well, vehicle technical artist Yibo Liu’s profile on LinkedIn may have held the secret. Up until recently his page stated that he was “working as the only technical artist in the vehicle art team for an undisclosed next-gen Forza project.”
Though this has since been changed to something more obscure, where it is now an “undisclosed Xbox One project”, even then the indicators seem quite clear. The annual Forza release schedule will continue a good few years into the Xbox One’s life cycle.
Naturally, a full reveal won’t come for a while yet, with much bigger fish to fry for the foreseeable future.
That Xbox One release thing, as an example.
Source: LinkedIn Screengrab, via CVG.
hazelam
isn’t there already a Forza game coming to the x1?
i don’t know how a series like Forza could survive annualisation.
i can understand the Fifas and the Maddens getting annual sequels, roster changes, promotions and relegations.
but that’s not something that applies to Forza.
if they want Forza to remain a flagship title for the Xbox consoles, i think turning it into an annual franchise might be a mistake.
in my experience, annualisation means a reduction in real innovation in favour of “new features”
usually making games ludicrously complicated.
you used to be able to play football games with one or two button joysticks.
now there aren’t enough buttons, so you have to use combinations of buttons and moves on the right analog stick.
does anybody actually remember all the control options on all those pages of the Fifa instruction manuals?
9 pages in FIFA 09.
excuse the rant, i just don’t think this trend towards annual sequels for any game that is successful is good for gaming.
aren’t Ubisoft talking about making Watch Dogs an annual series if the first one is a success?
god knows how that would end up.
i mean, Assassin’s Creed is now apparently a pirate game.
still, good luck to em.
Forza’s always been a fun game, lets hope it stays that way.
and it would be nice if silver users could use the auction house to buy user painted cars, but i doubt that will happen. >_<
because some of those cars are bloody amazing.
Stefan L
Yes there is. Forza 5 from Turn 10, and then Forza Horizon is Playground Games.
Think of it more like the Infinity Ward/Treyarch relationship, where two developers get two years to make a new entry for a series, and take turns giving their own take on proceedings.
hazelam
that’ll help, they can do more in two years than in one.
that reminds me, i really need to give Horizon a try.
i’ll have to check if there’s a demo on Live.
Eldave0
Absolutely loved Horizon. Great Forza gameplay but with Burnout Paradise’s open-world and multiplayer features. Will be all over this if it ends up being true :)