It seems as though nobody's future at Xbox is particularly certain after this year's intense layoff spree at the Microsoft-owned gaming giant, but some game studios have been hit harder by Asha Sharma's Xbox Reset plans. In the late-September restructuring that saw Activision take over the Halo franchise, Microsoft also merged Turn 10 and Playground Games into a single studio, in what many saw as the last nail in the coffin for the Forza Motorsport franchise. Following the merger, an internal email reported on by The Verge announced that Dan Greenwalt, the head of Turn 10 games with a 27-year tenure, has "decided that this is the right time for him to retire from Microsoft." In the memo, Trevor Williams, head of Playground Games, announced that Dan Greenwalt would remain on in some capacity to serve as an advisor for Williams and Playground Games COO, Michel Bastien.
Forza Motorsport was already on the ropes when it was announced that the current version of the game, which launched in 2023, would no longer be getting support. It's unclear whether Forza Motorsport will continue as a franchise or if the absorption of Turn 10 into Playground Games means that its developers will be permanently reassigned to games like Fable, which Microsoft appears to be betting the farm on, or Forza Horizon 6, which has shown itself to be a cash-cow in a struggling gaming industry.
Source: TechPowerUp News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing