Video Game Designer Leaves Microsoft to Start His Own Studio and Make a Racing Game

Mike Brown was the creative director behind Forza Horizon 5, one of Microsoft's most popular racing games. He has now started his own independent studio called Maverick Games and announced a new game called Clutch, which should come out in spring 2027.

Clutch is an open-world driving game set on the French Riviera that mixes racing with criminal storylines — something quite different from the festival-racing style of Forza Horizon games.

Why a Designer Would Leave a Big Studio

Brown spent years working on the Forza Horizon series at Playground Games, a Microsoft-owned studio. He started as a designer on Forza Horizon 4, then became the creative leader for Forza Horizon 5, which launched in 2021 and was also available on Game Pass, Microsoft's subscription service.

When experienced designers like Brown lead a major franchise, they learn not just the creative work but also how big studios operate technically and commercially. Many senior designers eventually want to explore ideas that might not fit a major company's plans. Starting an independent studio lets them pursue those creative instincts.

What Makes Clutch Different

Clutch tries to blend two different kinds of gameplay: precise racing and action-adventure elements like on-foot criminal missions. This is harder to pull off than it sounds. The game engine needs to handle both realistic car physics and character movement without letting either one feel cheap or unfinished.

The French Riviera setting — with coastal roads, cities, and mountains — gives the game variety for driving scenarios. Different landscapes like these require careful technical work to keep the game running smoothly on consoles. The location may also make it easier to include real car brands, since European settings often have fewer licensing restrictions than American ones.

Building an open-world game with AAA quality (the term for big-budget, high-quality games) typically takes a team of 200 to 300 people working for four to five years. Brown will need to hire experienced developers and likely license an existing game engine — probably Unreal Engine 5, which many studios use — rather than building one from scratch.

The Bigger Picture

The pattern of talented designers leaving established studios to start independent ones is common in the game industry. Some succeed, others run into funding problems or struggle to deliver on their vision. Brown's reputation from Forza should help him get funding from publishers and attract good developers, but the competitive landscape is crowded.

Games that try to combine racing with crime narratives haven't historically sold as well as games focused purely on either racing or action. Titles like the Driver series and Saints Row had decent sales but never matched the numbers of pure racing franchises like Need for Speed or Gran Theft Auto.

The spring 2027 target date is ambitious. By then, current PlayStation and Xbox consoles will be several years old and fully understood by developers, which helps them create better-looking, more detailed games. But independent studios often face tighter deadlines than teams backed by major companies.

Video games regularly miss their announced release dates. Development is unpredictable, especially when mixing complex systems like driving mechanics and story-driven action. Brown's team will face real scheduling pressure to hit a 2027 window.

If Clutch succeeds, it could prove that experienced franchise directors can launch successful independent projects. If it struggles, it may influence how Microsoft thinks about keeping top talent and whether the Forza games themselves should try adding crime or action storytelling. Either way, the game industry will be watching.