It looks like some of the former Forza Horizon developers have secured some major funding with their new studio Lighthouse Games. CEO Gavin Raeburn has confirmed with Gamesindustrybiz that they have received an “unspecified investment” from one of the world’s biggest video game tech giants; Tencent. Lighthouse Games, which was only officially established just this past March, is based out in Leamington Spa in the United Kingdom, which is also the exact same location where Playground Games is headquartered.
According to Raeburn, this investment doesn’t have any major influence over their creative control or the ability to publish whatever they desire. “The investment is financial, and we retain control over our game and destiny as a studio, though we are also looking forward to forging strong links with Tencent,” he said. Raeburn adds that the new influx of money will be primarily used to invest in brand-new technology as well as recruitment. The studio is currently working on an unannounced IP.
As we mentioned earlier, Lighthouse Studios is comprised mostly of former Playground Games developers, which was founded back in 2010 by Raeburn and former Code Masters developer Trevor Williams. The studio is most famous for developing the Forza Horizon series, which is a spin-off of the Forza Motorsport franchise created by the studio Turn 10. The Forza Horizon sub-series has gone on to become one of the most critically acclaimed franchises under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella. It’ll be interesting to see what Lighthouse does now that they have a new investor assisting them in their endeavors. As for Playground, they’re currently working on the reboot of Fable, which got a new look at the Xbox Games Showcase 2023.