Ex-Forza Horizon Director Traces a Line From the Failure of ‘Well-Meaning’ Game Pass to the Current Xbox Layoffs

As the fallout from the Xbox reset continues, one former developer of the Forza Horizon series has said what we’re seeing with layoffs, studio exits, and game cancelations is the result of the failure of Game Pass to hit the subscriber numbers Microsoft required to justify its enormous spending on content.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has already cut 1,600 staff from Xbox, and plans for another 1,600 to go over the course of the current financial year. Four studios are confirmed to be leaving Microsoft ownership, with another on its way. Sharma has called it the most “significant” restructure in Xbox history, insisting Microsoft’s gaming business “is not healthy.”

Speaking on MinnMax, Mike Brown, who was creative director on the hugely successful Forza Horizon 5 before leaving developer Playground to found his own studio, Maverick Games, which is set to release an open world racer of his own called Clutch, said that Xbox Game Pass had failed to hit enough subscribers to justify Microsoft’s huge spending on content acquisition. This includes the eye-watering $69 billion Microsoft splashed out on Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard.