Tag: Playground Games
News Forza Horizon 2 Super Early Xbox Development Build Leaks Online
Horizon 2 demake when?!
At this point, we feel like we've seen pretty much everything there is to see about the Forza Horizon series, going back all the way to the first game on Xbox 360. This morning, however, we've come across a very cool leak that shows a super-early development build of Forza Horizon 2 - one from before its eventual release back...
News Xbox's Playground Games Grew Substantially In 2024 To Prepare For Fable & Forza Horizon 6
70+ new employees
Xbox developer Playground Games has a big year on its hands in 2026 — with both Fable and Forza Horizon 6 due to release — and it seems the British studio has been growing substantially to prepare for these two huge releases. The team's financial statements for 2024 have just been released publicly, and they confirm that the...
Feature Six Things We Want To See From Forza Horizon 6 And Its Japan Setting
Our early wishlist for FH6!
Forza Horizon 6 is real, and the franchise is finally heading to Japan after years of fan outcry for the Asian nation to feature in the series. Truth be told, we've been happy with most of Horizon's location choices so far, but Japan is pretty exciting, so we're looking forward to heading East and cruising around with our...
News Forza Horizon 6's Map The 'Biggest Yet' As Dev Confirms Tokyo City Location
"The biggest city that we've done"
Details were light on yesterday's Tokyo Game Show reveal for Forza Horizon 6 - but a new interview with outlet GamesRadar gives us some more context on the game, and its much-anticipated Japanese location. First off, FH6's rendit
News Forza Horizon 6 Will Apparently Be Revealed At Tokyo Game Show As Japan Rumours Circulate
Are we finally heading to Japan in FH6?
Last week, you may have seen chatter about Forza Horizon 6 being set in Japan, following news of the region's Kei Cars being scanned into the game. We covered the news here at Pure Xbox but were somewhat wary of giving it too much weight - but some fresh information from
News Forza Horizon 5 Is Seemingly The Best-Selling New PS5 Game Of 2025 So Far
Very impressive results
Earlier this month, we brought news that Forza Horizon 5 was about to surpass three million sales on PS5, and now it's done just that - seemingly becoming the best-selling new PS5 game of 2025 in the process. These figures are again coming from Alinea Analytics, who've provided an update for us on how FH5 is doing
News Xbox Has Officially Delayed Fable Into 2026
"We are going to give Fable more time"
Talking on a fresh episode of the Official Xbox Podcast, new Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan has announced that Microsoft's Fable reboot has been delayed. Previously planned for a 2025 launch, Playground Games' new attempt at the Xbox fantasy RPG will now arrive in 2026. Duncan says that the pushback will...
Rumour Forza Horizon 5 'Will Arrive' On PS5, Despite A Delay From Xbox
"I don't know when, but it will arrive"
Earlier this year, we heard a strong rumour that Forza Horizon 5 would be another Xbox game to move over to PS5 at some stage - and now that very same source has provided an update on the situation as we near the end of 2024. According to prominent leaker eXtas1s, Microsoft's Forza Horizon 5's PS5 port is...
News Xbox Dev Playground Games Opens Another Studio To Work On Fable
Now three in total!
For a while now, we've known that Xbox-owned developer Playground Games has been working on Forza Horizon and Fable simultaneously - and now the team has revealed that the Fable side of the studio is really ramping up. Spotted on LinkedIn, the Playground Games bio now states that three studios are operating at the British...
News Fable Reboot Gets New Co-Developer To Work Alongside Playground Games
A fabled assist
Things have been dark on Fable since last summer's big showcase, but news of a fresh co-developer is getting us all excited to see more of Playground Games' upcoming RPG reboot. Third Kind Games has revealed that it is working on the new Fable game, as mentioned on the company's website. The announcement doesn't bring any sort of...
Talking Point Do You Think We'll See Another Forza Horizon Game Anytime Soon?
It's already been two years since FH5!
If you can believe it, we're already beyond the two-year point for Forza Horizon 5; the latest game in the Forza Horizon series launched in November 2021. At one point, a two-year release cycle was the norm for Forza releases, although that's clearly changed in recent years. The question is, how close are we to...
News Forza Horizon 5's Next Three Seasonal Updates Detailed
Starting out in a Winter Wonderland
Ahead of the festive season, Forza Horizon 5 developer Playground Games has detailed its next three major updates, and as you'd expect, the first one is appropriately themed for the winter season. Kicking off this month, 'Winter Wonderland' adds your usual array of Forza Horizon 5 goodies — including a new...
Soapbox After Finally Playing 'Rally Adventure', I Want To See More Of This From Forza Horizon
I've enjoyed my time with its linear campaign
A little over six months since Playground Games launched Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure, I finally got around to playing the add-on this past weekend thanks to its big Black Friday discount. Another Pure Xbox racing fanatic in Liam reviewed the DLC pack when it first arrived in March, but I wanted to...
News Baldur's Gate 3 Producer Joins Fable Team At Xbox's Playground Games
"Looking forward to working with everyone"
The Fable team over at the Xbox-owned Playground Games just a got a little bit stronger over the past few days, as former Baldur's Gate 3 producer Ryan Clark has officially joined the team as a Senior Producer. Clark made the announcement on LinkedIn earlier this week, where he had the following to say:...
News Fable's Narrative Lead Is Leaving The Project After 'Several Wonderful Years'
"I know it’s in good hands"
We've got some Fable news to share today, as the game's Narrative Lead, Anna Megill, has announced she will be departing the team this August, stating that "the time feels right for new challenges". Megill, who previously worked on the likes of Control and even Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, shared the news on social...
News Fable Dev Flattered By Fans Asking If Xbox Showcase Trailer Was 'Real'
Fabled footage
Now that the dust has settled on Xbox's fabled 2023 Showcase (sorry), fans have started to focus on certain elements of the show; discussing what impressed them most from the event. Fable has been talked about a lot - not least because some viewers believed the trailer could be CGI. It isn't, of course — that much has b
News This Week's New 'Fable' Trailer Was Captured On An Xbox Series X
"We got something special here!"
The 2023 Xbox Games Showcase was kicked off with a brand-new look at the upcoming Fable reboot, although it still left us with a lot more questions than answers! One of the things we do know is that it was running on an Xbox Series X. This is according to the game's lead lighting artist, Lukas Koelz, who responded...
News Playground Games Is Getting Help Developing Forza Horizon 5 Updates
Is the team becoming busy on other projects?
We know that Xbox developer Playground Games is busy working away on the Fable reboot, but is the team also toiling away on something else? Well, we're not quite sure, but we do know that another developer has been drafted in to help with Forza Horizon 5 content. Posting to Twitter yesterday, Wushu...
Talking Point Are You Happy With The Forza Horizon 5 Expansion 2 Setting?
Many rally returns
Playground Games finally revealed Forza Horizon 5 Expansion 2 yesterday in the form of 'Rally Adventure', an all-new DLC pack arriving next month. The expansion takes clear inspiration from Forza Horizon 1's own rally add-on, bringing a more down-to-earth DLC to Forza Horizon 5. The question is, what do we all make of the...
News Forza Horizon 5 'Rally Adventure' Expansion Leaps Onto Xbox This March
The Horizon Festival is expanding!
Developer Playground Games has revealed that Forza Horizon 5's second major expansion is based on all things off-roading. The 'Rally Adventure' expansion pack launches March 29th on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The new DLC harkens back to the early days of Forza Horizon. The first game in the series featured...
News Forza Horizon 5 Devs Split Off To Form New AAA Studio
"The game will be open world, it will be AAA, it will be premium"
Here's some big industry news for a random Tuesday morning in January! A chunk of the Playground Games team that developed Forza Horizon over the last few years have left the studio, forming a new "AAA" team called Maverick Games. Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike Brown is...
News Xbox's Matt Booty 'Encouraged' By Internal Showings Of Fable Reboot
"High craft, high quality, high attention to detail"
Fable is coming back to Xbox in the near future, this time with Forza Horizon developer Playground Games at the helm. Due to the team's development history, questions have often been asked by fans about whether the dev can make a successful transition from racing game to RPG. Well, in a new...
News Deus Ex & Tomb Raider Developer Reportedly Working With Xbox On Fable
Shared playground
Fable has been deep in development by Forza Horizon dev Playground Games for some time now, and it seems Xbox has decided to draft in some extra help. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Deus Ex developer Eidos Montreal is assisting on Fable's development. Reporter Jason Schreier then followed up on Twitter, add
News Fable Development Is 'Going Fine' Despite Rumours, Says Jez Corden
Normal development ensues
Fable has been in the headlines a little bit recently, as rumours on its progress continue to come to light. After last week's developer response ensured us that the game's 'scoping' was a normal part of development, this week, Windows Central's Jez Corden has made similar assurances. Phew! On a recent episode of their...
News Playground Games Seeking Experienced Senior Gameplay Animator For The Next Fable
"You’ll be working with characters, creatures and props"
The new Fable is a game we're all very excited about here at Pure Xbox, but recently we've had little to talk about in terms of updates - aside from a Senior Producer responding to concerns about "scoping" earlier this week. Back in March, Playground Games appointed a new lead-level...
News Fable Producer Responds As 'Downscaling' Rumour Gains Traction
"Scoping is normal, necessary and healthy"
We're all hoping we get to see something of the new Fable at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase next week, but before that point, the game has been trending for the wrong reasons on social media due to a new rumour. The rumour comes from the Colt Eastwood podcast, where his guest ("gazondaily") claimed...
News Forza Horizon 6 Development Underway As Playground Games Searches For Staff
Are we there yet? Japan that is
Forza Horizon 5 only launched about six months ago, but 'Horizon 6' appears to already be in development. A new job post, spotted by XGP, shows developer Playground Games advertising for a level designer on its "next AAA title", as part of the Forza Horizon team. Now, we don't know about you guys, but that sure...
News Fable Dev Announces He's The Game's New Lead Level Designer
He's looking forward to showing it off
Details on the Fable reboot are still fairly thin on the ground at the moment, but we do have the reveal that Senior Level Designer Paul Haynes has been promoted to Lead Level Designer on the title at Playground Games as of this month. Haynes took to Twitter earlier today to announce the news, where he also...
News Huge Forza Horizon 5 Series 5 Update Adds Sign Language Options, New Cars
Increased accessibility
It's almost time for the next series update in Forza Horizon 5! As usual, series 5 adds a bunch of new cars to the mix, including a selection available via the free Festival Playlist. However, before the playlist changes over, Playground has added some new accessibility options to the game. Starting today, March 1, American...
News Playground Games Co-Founder Gavin Raeburn Is Leaving The Company
After 12 years and five Forza Horizon games
It has been revealed that Gavin Raeburn, co-founder at Playground Games, is leaving the company after 12 years. As announced via Windows Central, Microsoft highlighted that Raeburn is stepping away from his position as Studio Head at the Forza Horizon and Fable studio, with fellow co-founder Trevor...
News Fable Has Been In Development For (At Least) Four Years, Reveals Engineer
"So excited for this game"
The teams at Xbox Game Studios and Playground Games are understandably remaining fairly silent on the progress of Fable right now, but thanks to a lead engineer at the latter, we know that it's been in development for at least four years. Tom Gaulton took to Twitter last week to commemorate four years of working on the...
News Playground Fills Associate Chief Designer Role For New Fable Game
More talent joins the team
Although there's pretty much no information about the new Fable game by the Forza Horizon team Playground Games, it's still easily one of the most anticipated Xbox releases. Presumably, it'll be an expansive world, with plenty to do - that means, of course, it requires a lot of talent to help bring the next chapter to...
