Maverick Games

Maverick Games is an independent game developer based in Leamington Spa, England, founded in January 2023 by Mike Brown, the former Creative Director of Forza Horizon 2, 3, 4, and 5 at Playground Games, alongside several other senior developers from the Forza Horizon team. The founding leadership includes Executive Producer Tom Butcher, CTO Matt Craven, Content Director Gareth Harwood, Audio Director Fraser Strachan, Art Director Ben Penrose, and COO Harinder Sangha. The studio was established with an explicit commitment to developer wellbeing, creative freedom, and an independent culture, with Brown describing the goal as building "a home where everyone is encouraged to take risks, be curious, be creative, be innovative." Maverick was initially funded by Amazon Games before going independent in early 2026 following Amazon's withdrawal from the project.

Clutch, the studio's debut title, has been in development for over three and a half years, making it the longest development cycle of any game Brown has worked on. Built on a custom version of Unreal Engine 5, it is a cinematic open-world action-driving game set on the French Riviera, featuring a story-driven campaign written by Skins co-creator Jamie Brittain with a cast including Tosin Cole and Little Simz, alongside a PvPvE open-world sandbox. Clutch is scheduled for Spring 2027 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and marks the first major release from the growing Leamington Spa games cluster outside of Playground Games.