What Is the Future of Forza Motorsport?

Recently Microsoft made international headlines when the tech company laid off 9,000 employees across multiple divisions and several Xbox game studios. Reportedly Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios lost approximately 50% of its staff in the layoff. This is a significant blow for a studio that has literally been around since the beginning of Xbox. What does this mean for the future of the franchise? We’re going to break down a few rumors, reports, and possibilities.

Is Forza Motorsport Dead?

Is the racing franchise that has been part of Xbox since the beginning dead? That’s the question many fans have had since the news of the layoffs broke. In the days after, more information, rumors, and speculation are coming to light. One prevailing story comes from Fred Russell, a former employee and car curator for Turn 10 Studios. In a recent Facebook post Russell suggested that Turn 10 Studios “shuttered” the Forza Motorsport space and that the team is “no more.”

This has caused a flux of headlines suggesting that the Forza Motorsport franchise is essentially dead and the remaining staff will serve as support for the Forza Horizon franchise. However, it should be noted that Russell’s LinkedIn page shows that he left Turn 10 Studios almost a decade ago in 2016. Rusell says he still “helps [Turn 10 Studios] in odd ways” according to a response he made to a comment on his Facebook post. We’re not saying Russell is wrong, but we are choosing to take his claims with a grain of salt. Among the many employees who were laid off from Turn 10 Studios recently, none of them have made similar claims and it is unclear where Russell is getting his information on the matter. So, we have to consider Forza Motorsport’s “death” a rumor until there is official word from Turn 10 Studios or if current and former employees corroborate Russell’s claim. For now, it seems that Forza Motorsport’s fate remains to be seen.

What About Forza Horizon?

While we are considering Russell’s claim as a rumor, we wouldn’t blame anyone for taking it as fact. Logically speaking, Forza Horizon taking over as the premiere franchise lines up. Despite Forza Motorsport being the original franchise, many consider Forza Horizon to be the more popular series. Forza Horizon 5 even made the transition across platforms and is now available for PlayStation 5. Furthermore, during the June 2025 Xbox Showcase, CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer teased that the next Forza game will be revealed in 2026. He didn’t specify which franchise the game would be under but most are speculating it will be Forza Horizon 6.

Additionally, Forza Horizon developer Playground Games has also been working on the upcoming RPG, Fable. Which makes it even easier to believe that the remaining Turn 10 Studios team would be tapped to bolster the portion of the Playground Games team still working on the next Horizon game. Though, again we must stress that we don’t actually know what the plans are without an official word from Xbox, Turn 10 Studios, or Playground Games.

Considering that Forza Horizon is now multi-platform (Xbox, PS5 and PC) it could be primed to become an even bigger franchise for the Xbox IP library. Unfortunately, that might come at the cost of Forza Motorsport if the rumors are true.

The Human Cost

Fans of both Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon have a lot of questions regarding the future of both franchises—as do we. However, we shouldn’t forget that a lot of very talented and very real people were affected by these layoffs, and they all face an uncertain future. Many of the people laid off had been with Turn 10 Studios for years and fostered the release of several games in the franchise. They had their dream jobs creating joy for car and gaming enthusiasts all over the world and they’ve had to say goodbye to it under less-than-ideal circumstances.

We sincerely hope that all of those affected at Turn 10 Studios and across Microsoft find new positions worthy of their talent very soon. If you happen to be a game studio, software company, or anyone else looking for talented artists, programmers, and developers we highly recommend you search LinkedIn and to reach out to the folks who are now on the market.

As for us, we’ll keep a close eye on the situation and update you as soon as we know about what the future holds for the Forza franchise.