NewsGamingTechXbox is merging its Forza developers into a single studioPlayground Games and Turn 10 Studios staff will now focus on Forza Horizon and Fable together.Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios staff will now focus on Forza Horizon and Fable together.by Tom WarrenSep 22, 2026, 2:01 PM UTCShareGiftImage: MicrosoftPart OfXbox’s ‘reset’: all the news about Microsoft’s layoffs and studio changessee all updates Tom Warren is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.Microsoft is uniting its two Forza developers into a single studio today, as part of a massive restructuring of Xbox. Playground Games, which develops Forza Horizon, and Turn 10 Studios, creators of Forza Motorsport, are merging together to focus on Forza Horizon and Fable.“Playground and Turn 10 will come together as one studio focused on the Forza and Fable franchises,” explains Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty in a memo. “These two studios have been technological, creative, and franchise partners for over a decade, and today’s changes will formally move their work into one team.”The closure of Turn 10 Studios leaves big unanswered questions around the future of Forza Motorsport, and whether Microsoft will ever return to the franchise or simply focus on Forza Horizon instead.More than 70 people at Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios were laid off last year, in a move that hit the vast majority of the studio. Over the past year Turn 10 Studios has essentially been maintaining Forza Motorsport, and now those who remain will be moving over to Playground Games to work on Forza Horizon and Fable.The Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios changes are part of a larger reorganization of Xbox today. Activision is taking on the Halo franchise, alongside Sea of Thieves developers Rare and World’s Edge, the studio responsible for Age of Empires.
You can read more about the latest Xbox shake-up right here.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Tom WarrenGamingMicrosoftNewsTechXboxMicrosoft is laying off 268 Xbox staffers and Ninja Theory may closeTom Warren13 seconds agoActivision is taking over Halo as part of a massive Xbox shake-upTom Warren56 seconds agoXbox CEO says she’s not retreating.Sean HollisterAug 28Most PopulariPhone owners can now submit claims in Apple’s $250 million Siri AI settlementI got to see Google’s wild ideas about the future of laptopsThe M5 Ultra Mac Studio tears through our benchmark testsThe long dream of the GooglebookGooglebooks feel like the first laptops built for Android ownersAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad
