On the eve of E3 2018, a public document raised Xbox fans’ expectations. A filing at Companies House, the official British company registry, showed that a Microsoft vice president for legal and corporate development had been appointed director of Playground Games on May 29, 2018.
Why did this get attention? Because the same executive had already appeared as a director at a long list of companies Microsoft bought, such as LinkedIn, Skype, Rare, Lionhead, Havok and Xamarin. It was a strong sign of an acquisition.
It would be great news for fans of the brand. Playground Games was founded in 2010 in Leamington Spa, England, by racing game veterans, and had worked with Microsoft from the start: it is the studio behind the Forza Horizon series, the open-world side of Forza. In 2017, the company had opened a second studio, dedicated to an open-world action RPG, which fueled the rumor of a new Fable.
Forza Horizon 4 was the most anticipated announcement for Microsoft’s E3 2018 conference, possibly accompanied by some Fable news.
What came next
The filing was right. At the June 10, 2018 conference, Microsoft confirmed the purchase of Playground Games, along with Undead Labs, Ninja Theory and Compulsion Games, and announced a new studio, The Initiative. On the same stage, it revealed Forza Horizon 4, set in Great Britain and released on October 2, 2018. The studio would go on to make Forza Horizon 5, from 2021, set in Mexico.
The new Fable was officially announced in 2020 and, after some delays, is set for February 2027, including on PS5. And in September 2026 Microsoft announced that Playground and Turn 10 Studios will merge into a single studio responsible for Forza and Fable.
Source: Companies House, Microsoft.
Max Xavier
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment.