Dan Greenawalt, so usually the face of the Forza Motorsport video games, has left the collection, in accordance with The Verge’s Microsoft correspondent Tom Warren.
It marks the tip of practically 27 years at Microsoft for the racing sport veteran, who has labored in some capability on each single Forza sport, proper again to being Lead Sport Designer on 2005’s authentic.
Greenawalt was additionally concerned in different Xbox-exclusive driving titles equivalent to RalliSport Problem and Undertaking Gotham Racing.
On this time, he was usually the one to face subsequent to a supercar throughout lavish displays, principally hyping up the subsequent Forza sport.
“Dan Greenawalt has determined that that is the best time for him to retire from Microsoft,” reads a leaked memo by Playground Video games studio head Trevor Williams, picked up by The Verge.
The Vice President and Studio Head for Flip 10 led the workforce by means of a number of profitable video games, specifically, Forza Motorsport 2 and 4, constructing loyal fanbases and garnering vital acclaim.
Issues took a flip for the more serious when the fifth instalment was caught up within the Xbox One launch fiasco, earlier than 6 and seven recouped among the losses forward of a fateful reboot for PC and Xbox Sequence X|S.
How Flip 10 Studios obtained right here
For 14 years, Microsoft has run two Forza titles inside the overarching franchise. The unique, Forza Motorsport, which is circuit-based and a Gran Turismo rival, and Forza Horizon, an open-world spin-off.
Motorsport was dealt with by US-based Flip 10 Studios, whereas the extra accessible Horizon video games by UK-based Playground Video games.
Nonetheless, behind the scenes, Traxion understands there has lengthy been a battle for energy, with the plucky Horizon video games shortly changing into the most-beloved and best-selling collection. Regardless of this, it needed to report back to Flip 10, the unique Forza creators.
That began to vary with 2023’s Forza Motorsport reboot, which had a tough gestation interval, laced with regrettable hyperbole such because the now-infamous “constructed from the bottom up”, just for a number of property to be clearly ported from previous instalments. This even led to the ironic subreddit of the same name.
Ahead-looking assist for that sport effectively ended in July 2025, when Microsoft made sweeping job cuts, adopted by closing affirmation in December of that same year.
Final month, Playground subsumed the remnants of Flip 10 in what was billed a ‘merger’.
As Traxion reported then, this meant the tip of the ‘Flip 10’ title, the founders of the collection.
Alongside Greenawalt’s departure, The Verge has confirmed that below the Playground umbrella, the remaining Flip 10 staff now work at Playground Video games Redmond, with the primary UK workplace known as Playground Video games Leamington Spa.
In the meantime, Forza Horizon 6 has been delayed for PlayStation 5, however a 26th January 2027 launch date has been confirmed, which is able to launch alongside the sport’s first major expansion.