It seems that only the spinoff of the franchise, which began twenty years ago, will survive — and that sounds downright bizarre.

It was Eurogamer that first reported on a Facebook post by Fred Russell, a former content coordinator for the Forza series. According to Russell, Microsoft’s recent sweeping layoffs effectively killed off the Forza Motorsport series, while the Horizon spinoff will carry on. Although Russell left Turn 10 Studios back in 2016, he is still thought to have reliable inside contacts, making him a credible source.

Russell claims that Turn 10 shut down the Forza Motorsport division and that the team is no more. He called it a sad day for one of the best racing franchises in gaming and said he loved his time at the studio. In response to a comment asking whether Turn 10 is abandoning game development entirely, he replied that Forza Horizon is continuing for now. It’s possible the studio will now serve solely as a support team, shifting to assist on Forza Horizon projects — especially since Playground Games, now operating as a two-team studio, is currently tied up with the Fable reboot and cannot focus fully on Forza Horizon 6.

The apparent discontinuation of a flagship series while keeping its spinoff alive aligns with other reports on the fallout at Turn 10. Jason Schreier of Bloomberg wrote on Bluesky that as much as half of Turn 10’s workforce may have been laid off, adding weight to the theory that the studio will shift into a support role.

Forza Motorsport was the series’ original form — a classic circuit-racing experience that was Microsoft’s answer to Sony and Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo. The open-world spinoff Forza Horizon debuted in 2012 and seems to have surpassed its predecessor in popularity. The most recent mainline entry, Forza Motorsport (effectively Forza Motorsport 8), launched in 2023, while Forza Horizon 5 hit shelves in 2021.

Source: PCGamer, Eurogamer, Facebook, Bluesky