Gavin Raeburn, Former Head and Co-Founder of Playground Games, Establishes Lighthouse Games

Playground Games (Forza Horizon) and the British city of Leamington Spa continue to bring new development teams to life. First it was Maverick Games and now it is the turn of Lighthouse Games, a studio led by Gavin Raeburn, former director and co-founder of Playground Games. Raeburn left the company owned by Xbox Game Studios in January and two months later returns to the video game industry with his own development team.

Lighthouse Games currently has a staff of 30 employees including former Playground Games members and industry veterans. His first project under Raeburn will be a “AAA through and through” production based on a new intellectual property. The game has yet to be announced, but Lighthouse Games’ ambition is for the first installment to serve as the basis for bringing a franchise to life. To carry out this project, the company will look for a publisher that shares its vision and allows the game to be brought to a global audience.

Gavin Raeburn was one of the three founders of Playground Games in 2010. Now that he is starting up a studio again, he remembers that at first everything is optimistic, but he also admits that “making games is difficult.” Raeburn acknowledges that even with all the money in the world, in the end what counts are the results and maintains that having the knowledge of how to build a successful studio is extremely valuable. Playground Games was born after the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis and Lighthouse Games is launched at a difficult time due to inflation and economic uncertainty.

The formation of Lighthouse Games will also allow Gavin Raeburn to become independent again, something he doesn’t seem to have lost under Microsoft. Raeburn affirms that he has always been allowed to lead his teams autonomously and with complete creative freedom. “It has worked well for me and my studios, and also for publishers and partners,” Raeburn says. “[…] I have always felt independent”, he adds. Under Raeburn’s direction and with the freedom offered by Microsoft, Playground Games developed Forza Horizon, a spin-off of Forza that for many has surpassed the original franchise.

Since its launch, Forza Horizon 5 has surpassed 10 million players and on March 29 will receive Rally Adventure, its second expansion after Hot Wheels. On the other hand, Playground Games is working on a new installment of the Fable saga of which we have not known anything since the project was announced in June 2020.