Trending
UPDATE: Studio head Mike Brown has shared a new message on Twitter, saying that the team is as good as they've ever been and will officially unveil their game later this year. Here's his post in full:
"A few people sharing condolences about this - please do not. We are as good as we've ever been and are getting ready to share the game with you later in the year. We will aim to shoot a podcast to discuss it a bit more tomorrow."
Original article: Amazon's retreat from game publishing has claimed another casualty. The Game Business reports that Amazon Game Studios has parted ways with Maverick Games, the UK studio founded in 2022 by former Forza Horizon 5 Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown and ex-Sega Hardlight and Sumo Leamington boss Harinder Sangha.
Maverick's debut title is a AAA narrative-driven open-world driving game for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X, which is exactly the kind of ambitious, premium project that's becoming increasingly difficult to find a home for in the current climate. Amazon, it turns out, is no longer that home.
Amazon's wider pullback from gaming
This isn't an isolated incident, it's part of a much broader scaling back from Amazon Games. Over the past year alone, the company cut most of its MMO development staff, wound down New World, shelved an unannounced Lord of the Rings MMO, ceased operations on recently launched co-op game King of Meat, and offloaded unreleased MOBA March of Giants to Ubisoft. The head of Amazon Game Studios, Christoph Hartmann, also departed last month.
Amazon isn't exiting games entirely. The company will continue publishing the two upcoming Tomb Raider titles with Crystal Dynamics and supporting its Luna streaming service, but its appetite for anything outside that lane has clearly evaporated.
What happens to Maverick's game?
The good news is that Maverick isn't panicking. Brown and Sangha issued a statement confirming development is progressing as planned and that the studio is in active discussions with potential new publishing partners. Given the pedigree behind the project - Brown's Forza Horizon credentials alone make this one of the more exciting racing game prospects around - finding a new home shouldn't be impossible, even in a tough market.
Whether that partner materialises in time to keep the project on track is the real question. Expect more news later this year.
