Former Forza Horizon Studio Head Starts New Studio Lighthouse Games

Former founder and studio head of Forza Horizon developer Playground Games, Gavin Raeburn, has started a new AAA studio called Lighthouse Games. The studio is based in Leamington Spa and currently working on an unannounced IP.

Lighthouse Games is composed of other former Playground Games veterans such as director Nick Wheelwright and creative director Jon Davis-Hunt.

“I’m delighted that 30 former colleagues and other industry heavyweights have chosen to join me at Lighthouse. With Horizon, Playground and I created one of the most successful Xbox franchises of all time," Raeburn explained in a statement.

He continued: "We delivered significant commercial success year after year, to massive critical acclaim following the success from my time at Codemasters leading Dirt, Grid, and F1. That DNA is now at Lighthouse, and with it, we intend to build something truly special using all our experience to create a new genre-defining franchise.”

As the team is currently working on its first game, it is also looking to hire for open positions including lead-level designer and senior online engineer.

There have been many new studios being formed lately by veterans from big studios including former Need for Speed developers at Fuse Games and former Apex Legends developers at Wildlight Entertainment.