Maverick Games: Ex-Forza Horizon Team Partners With Amazon Games For Open-World Driving Game

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Images: Maverick Games / Amazon Games
Maverick Games, consisting of several core team members behind the Forza Horizon series, has struck a deal with Amazon Games. The goal: a triple-A, narrative-led open-world driving game.

Maverick Games teams up with Amazon Games to create a brand-new open-world driving game. The studio, founded by several core team members of the Forza Horizon series, plans to create a triple-A, narrative-based title. "Without giving too much away, I will share that the team here is buzzing with excitement about the game and we can't wait to share it with the world", says Maverick Games' Studio Head Mike Brown, the former Creative Director for FH.

Other members of Maverick Games include Executive Producer Tom Butcher (Forza Horizon series, F1 All-Stars), CTO Matt Craven (Forza Horizon series, GRID, DIRT), Content Director Gareth Harwood (Forza Horizon series, Fable reboot), Audio Director Fraser Strachan (Forza Horizon series), Art Director Ben Penrose (Forza Horizon Series, Fable reboot) and Visual Design Director Elly Marshall (Forza Horizon 3, Just Cause 3, DIRT).

Additionally, the team managed to get an acclaimed writer on board for the narrative that is supposed to feature in the game - Jamie Brittain, co-creator of the award-winning British TV show Skins, is working on the unannounced game's story.

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The Maverick Games team around Studio Head Mike Brown (fourth from the left).

"Something that players will truly love"​

Brown is hoping that the Amazon Games partnership can lead to a great title: "It's clear that Amazon Games truly puts players first and takes a long-term view to publishing games that will enable us to deliver something players will truly love."

The Studio Head continues: "I’ve been making racing games for nearly 20 years, and I know this community really well. I think there are a lot of fantasies, desires, and motivations that this community has that we have a unique opportunity to deliver on.

Lots of great driving games have amazing gameplay, amazing content. But to really cross that bridge, to become a game that people genuinely love, then there needs to be that human connection where you’re actually rooting for these characters, falling in love with these characters. That, I think, is a place where our game will be able to really differentiate itself from the other titles in the genre. There’s nothing about this genre that prevents it from having amazing characters and amazing stories — it’s just not really been explored yet.

What do you make of the unnamed, upcoming Maverick Games title? Does a proper story sound appealing to you? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
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About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

Not a fan of open world racing, just give me race tracks and a linear career and i'm good, these "empty world" games are a waste of time mostly.
 
OverTake
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It kind of depends on the user - I kind of like free roaming from time to time, just to have fun driving without worrying about lap times. Similarly, exploring open worlds is always part of the allure for me in games like Fallout, GTA or Red Dead Redemption, so doing it on four wheels is also quite cool.

Still, I'm more at home on actual race tracks, can't deny that :D But I am curious to see what Maverick has up their sleeves for this.
 
FH4 had me HOOKED! It was my first Horizon game and pretty much my first open world racer. It was tremendous. I was obsessed with getting interesting cars, then lightly modding them (more power, bigger wheels), then hooning around. (Guilty pleasure, the Sunbeam Tiger with a power upgrade) Every minute seemed worthwhile because there were speed challenges and races to hit up. Also the skill points for just driving around were great, I have done 10 minute drift chains just to max out the skill points earned. They had some good story challenges as well, like the retro gaming one and the delivery challenges. FH5 is more of the same, but more annoying in every way.

The contrast is Super Woden II, a game on OT.gg's front page. That game is so linear its almost not fun. The way they dole out the stars forces you down one progression path (I've found). Give me a little agency. If I wanted to follow a detailed plan to a letter, I'd hang out with my wife more.
 
I wouldn't mind a free roam driving game to play around with, but if we're gonna 'love the character' then please give us some choice in character design, I'm too old and long in the tooth to play a 20yo doood that keeps getting given million dollar Hypercars to smash up on the way to a strobe lit figure of eight 3 lapper and have it mended for the run back, yeah, I'm looking at you Forza Horizonzzzz,

However, the Horizon's games did entertain me even if it was only for driving at legal speeds in something nice to then give it some beans for a second or two to pass traffic, and make my way back to my chosen abode, and the barn finds*

There's a lot to be said for base making and decorating/kitting it out with your winnings, like trophies, garlands and even a few pictures taken in game of your exploits to hang on your virtual career room wall, and of course a garage to store your handfull of precious favorite cars...

I suppose it's a matter of how long the Studio want their game to be stocked on the visible shelves, if they want a thunderclap sales rush then start on the next, or cut a new path of continued DLC additions that seamlessly keep the original in the frame for 'virtually' ever.
either way, we'll see.

* The Barn finds , great as they were, I could never understand why someone (a Farmer?) would let you got to his barn (not telling you exactly where it was) and take a vehicle, and your mate would spend his time and money on the rebuild and just give you the car to probably wright-off within 10 seconds.
 
best of luck to this team.
the issue ist not that open world racing games are automatically "bad" or "boring" just because its open world.
it heavily depends what experience you create for the players in this open world. The genre is never in and of itself "this" or "that" just because its that genre.
 
I'm curious to see what the team is going to bring on the table in terms of story and storytelling. I've stated about TDUSC that nobody really cared about the story and the acting in racing games but I'd like to be surprised. Not an easy task to bring something new on that aspect : it would be great to see events of the story during races (a rival or a friend's car crashing, which would require some rubber banding so that the player couldn't miss the action, or by taking the control away from him to show a cutscene, but that would be annoying...). I assume we'll meet more characters than usual, with multiple interlaced plots to justify various rype of races. Wait and see...
 

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