Xbox Game Studios + Bethesda + ABK | OTXXVII | Acquisition Blizzard
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Playground Games
Open positions | Forza team: 21
Open positions | Fable team: 42
Careers - Playground Games
As a team, we are passionate about quality and innovation and we’re always looking for great people who can help us push further. If that sounds like you, have a look below at all of the positions we currently have open at Playground. If you can’t see a position that’s right for you, we welcome...playground-games.com
Studio is now at ≈ 400 employees, larger than ever before in their studios history.
For comparison, the day Forza Horizon 5 shipped, the Forza team had ≈ 35 open positions. The general Forza Horizon framework won't change because it's beloved and highly successful, so for the next game, they'll likely aim for a new location (obviously), a few new key headline features (motorbikes?), maybe having a stronger "seasons" focus again (depending on location) and keep building on UGC with EventLab.
The Fable team also grew a lot, coming from over 100 open positions in the last years.
They had more than 120 open positions at the highest I saw. Some time in 2021 maybe. They had 100ish open for over a year.
When Microsoft did the hiring freeze it dropped sharply to 40 or something like that, overnight. Looks like they've been slowly opening mode since then.
Not sure why it would matter if a team puts 2 games out in a single year, they've been working on Fable since what 2018/2019 while Forza Horizon 6 would've been started in maybe 2022. Again I don't think the Forza team is all hands on deck for Fable because they have their own team and are also being assisted by Edios apparently. I don't think losing a few leads is going to add up to 3 years to the dev cycle, lets be real here its a racing game and the only thing that really changes is location so, we can pretty much assume they're gonna have the same stuff in a different location.
The main reason it moved from a 2 year release was covid so even the 3 year release cycle wasn't normal, I can't see them going from a 2 year release to 6 or 7 years because of Fable and a few important roles leaving. I'm not saying it's coming next year but I don't see it being 2026/2027, 2025 at the latest imo.
My old and outdated and somewhat questionable numbers (i dont trust LinkedIn numbers) suggest that they had around 330 employees in H1 2021.
I was always on Team2025 for FH6 (and Fable of course), but yeah maybe there is a chance it comes out in 2024, and I will say it right now, it might be Xbox's biggest ever launch if the quality is still there. I'm already hungry for a new FH myself even though 5 was my first and I'm not a car guy at all.
Also, remember, the last time Xbox hinted that they had more stuff unannounced for the next year was in 2020 for 2021, when FH5 was revealed and released. They said the same thing recently, so we know for a fact that we'll get more than just Hellblade, Ara, Flight Sim, Towerborne and Avowed. They also said this before Activision was acquired so that doesn't include COD or Blizzard. Could just mean South of Midnight or Indiana Jones or whatever, but FH6 is equally as likely.
Also, remember, the last time Xbox hinted that they had more stuff unannounced for the next year was in 2020 for 2021, when FH5 was revealed and released. They said the same thing recently, so we know for a fact that we'll get more than just Hellblade, Ara, Flight Sim, Towerborne and Avowed. They also said this before Activision was acquired so that doesn't include COD or Blizzard. Could just mean South of Midnight or Indiana Jones or whatever, but FH6 is equally as likely.
The next Forza Horizon isn't out till 2025 at the earliest. More likely to be 2026 or 2027. Past release cadence means little in today's world when games are inherently much more difficult to be made. Playground haven't even got Fable out the door yet. It will be a combination of all hands on deck for Fable and supporting the ongoing live service elements of FH5. I think expecting a release in 2024, when the game hasn't even been revealed, is nuts to be honest.
We got the Rally DLC in literally March this year, and hot wheels July 2022. Those projects weren't summoned out of thin air. Playground will have had staff working on these. There's simply no way they've been all guns blazing on whatever the next FH is when they have had DLC to get out the door, continuation of supporting the live service elements of the game, and getting one of Xbox most important AAA games ready... which will still likely be a minimum of 12 to 18 months away.
We got the Rally DLC in literally March this year, and hot wheels July 2022. Those projects weren't summoned out of thin air. Playground will have had staff working on these. There's simply no way they've been all guns blazing on whatever the next FH is when they have had DLC to get out the door, continuation of supporting the live service elements of the game, and getting one of Xbox most important AAA games ready... which will still likely be a minimum of 12 to 18 months away.
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So? A Forza Horizon game is just not coming out next year. Until March of this year they were working on DLC for the game, alongside the live service elements and with Fable.
They still need to support the live service elements of the game, and Fable needs to be put out the door. Fable is probably one of the most important AAA games to Xbox that have been revealed, so it's highly likely that most of the studio are working on Fable. There's just no way, at all in my eyes that a new Horizon game is due out next year. Unless they put Fable on a back burn, which is also highly unlikely
As long as FH6 has Japan as its location I don't care if it will be coming in 25, 26 or even 27.
It's gonna be incredible anyway.
It's gonna be incredible anyway.
Yeah my dream for the game is a Japan/Asia setting. Think that could be mindblowing
Rare is looking for a video producer on Sea of Thieves and Everwild (Contract position).
www.rare.co.uk
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It's going to be so funny when it's somewhere else again 🤣
Why don't people understand the meaning of having multiple teams? Spider-Man 2 just released, a big AAA game, but Insomniac clearly still has had a lot of people working on Wolverine anyway. Remember, it's supposed to be a 2024 game, at worst 2025. And they already put out two other games this generation.
I'm not saying Playground doesn't have some people who switch teams between projects, and might occasionally have some overlap, but some people have been working on Fable for 5 years and didn't even work on FH5.
Rare is looking for a video producer on Sea of Thieves and Everwild (Contract position).
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If Rare was in France, I'd apply instantly. 😅
Sorry but where did I say the entire studio is working on Fable? I said "it's highly likely that most". Nowhere do I dispute the game is being worked on, in some capacity by another team. Of course it is. That doesn't mean its the studios priority, because Fable is highly likely the studios priority. As the game is now closer to release, inevitably it will pull more and more staff on to it, detracting from whatever other projects are ongoing (such as the next instalment in Forza Horizon).
If the game wasn't already being worked on we wouldn't be seeing it till 2028 at the earliest. Thats why I said anywhere in the 2025 to 2027 range. Its totally dependant on just how much of a resource drain Fable is. I'd be absolutely stunned if we had a FH game next year - think there's 0.1% chance of it happening.
Some people seem to forget outsourcing is a thing, FH5 was made in 3 years with COVID and in "these times" of long dev time. Can't say it enough I doubt it suddenly moves from 2 years to 3 and a massive jump to 6 or 7 years, sure maybe if they were rebooting the whole franchise but that's not happening.
They're slowly running out of locations haha, I wonder what they'll do once they visit most countries.
They're slowly running out of locations haha, I wonder what they'll do once they visit most countries.
I don't believe it comes out in 2024 but I also wouldn't be very surprised if it does. They can (and do) reuse a ton from other games, making the new map I suppose is the hardest part, but 3 years for that + new cars and some features doesn't sound unreasonable
They've barely scratched the surface.
And even the countries they have done, they could do other parts of, eg they only did Colorado in the US, Northern UK, South Italy etc etc
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Yeah, it's probably not gonna be Japan and I'll cry myself into sleep.
Damn you Playground!
Playground Games
Open positions | Forza team: 21
Open positions | Fable team: 42
Careers - Playground Games
As a team, we are passionate about quality and innovation and we’re always looking for great people who can help us push further. If that sounds like you, have a look below at all of the positions we currently have open at Playground. If you can’t see a position that’s right for you, we welcome...
Studio is now at ≈ 400 employees, larger than ever before in their studios history.
For comparison, the day Forza Horizon 5 shipped, the Forza team had ≈ 35 open positions. The general Forza Horizon framework won't change because it's beloved and highly successful, so for the next game, they'll likely aim for a new location (obviously), a few new key headline features (motorbikes?), maybe having a stronger "seasons" focus again (depending on location) and keep building on UGC with EventLab.
The Fable team also grew a lot, coming from over 100 open positions in the last years.
Wow so looking to head towards 500, if there's any studio that deserves to grow large its PG for me, especially being a 2 studio setup.
Rare is looking for a video producer on Sea of Thieves and Everwild (Contract position).
Careers at Rare
Learn more about what it’s like to work at Rare and see all available roles
Nice, hope to see more vids incoming.
They've barely scratched the surface.
And even the countries they have done, they could do other parts of, eg they only did Colorado in the US, Northern UK, South Italy etc etc
Looking at this picture, I'm finding a strange correlation between FH locations and Xbox marketing efforts. :D
Xbox lately only caters to hardcore gamers (which is reflected in multiple ways, like the way they only use Twitch and youtube ads in France which are heavily targeted to hardcore gamers, or the games they choose to have marketing rights with - this year Diablo instead of EA FC or the wizard game, both massively bigger for casuals). It's not going to get any better until they target casuals and the likes.
Not true because France is right there. 😅
We could swap Germany with France and that would definitely be accurate.
Not true because France is right there. 😅
We could swap Germany with France and that would definitely be accurate.
I'm so glad they haven't done Germany in a FH game, and I hope they never will. The UK was boring enough; it basically covered the German landscape already.
b-but running 200kpm on an autobahn crossing the black forest....
and thats basically all that i can think of germany
if xbox knew south america was a thing you could have the dark souls of racing as a FH south america with brazilian and bolivian mountain roads
On the other hand, they have had marketing partnerships with CyberPunk, Assassin's Creed , Far Cry, Battlefield 2042.
Yes, but that was two years ago, when things were better actually. I guess they had Phantom Liberty this year but it's still about a three years-old game.
They have SW Outlaws next year, but really, they should have stuff like EA FC or GTA from time to time.
Having marketing for all ABK and Bethesda games is HUGE though.
I wish they'd have more focus on cities in FH and become more of a FH/PGR hybrid. That would make the different locations much more interesting and mix things up a bit.
Any cities in FH (eg Edinburgh) are probably the weakest part of the game - they lack the kind of detail we saw in PGR and just feel like ghost-towns. Definitely an area they could do with improving as a differentiator for the next installment, and one they'll definitely need to get right if they're doing Japan.
I'd like the idea, that way I'd be able to finally see that famous place called Stau. I don't know what's there but I've seen it on billboards on nearly every german highway. ;)
Those deals are probably multi-year deals, so until renewal they won't be able to do anything.
I dont see Sony letting the R* partnership go, now that they dont need to pay Activision anything, they will use that money for GTA I think.
You just reminded me again why I was so disappointed with Halo 4 and 5's narratives.
I know the Kilo-5 trilogy didn't resonate with everyone- but I loved how it explored the geopolitical climate between the different alien races following fall of the Covenant. And the Hunt the Truth campaign prior to Halo 5 followed up on many of more interesting beats.
There were colonies where ex-Covie's and ex-UNSC united against their previous fascist overlords, there were Jackal pirates trying gather enough lost ships and munitions to build a formidable Navy of their own and lead their species to glory, there were human settlers close to finding about the true origins of the Spartan program and wanting revenge, there was the Office of Naval Intelligence plotting genocide of the Elites despite the facade of maintaining a truce. There were disgruntled former Spartan candidates.
There was so much that could have been done to tell an interesting, character driven story the post-Halo 3 universe - but rather than build on that, 343 chose to dig up the Forerunner and thrust us into one existential galactic crisis after another - none which resonated the way the Covenant and Flood did.
I need Forza PGR.
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Have to completely agree with this. The forerunners were better left as just a long gone semi-mythological ancient race and Halo should have refocused on the fall of the Covenant and its aftermath. It could have been a really interesting path to take.
I love the gameplay in Infinite but the story was fairly forgettable.
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