Forza Motorsport Is No More, Says Former Turn 10 Dev After Massive Xbox Layoffs

It looks like Forza Motorsport might be done for good. According to a former Turn 10 Studios employee, the team behind the long-running racing series has been shut down. This news comes right after Microsoft cut thousands of jobs across the company, with a huge portion hitting the Xbox division.

Fred Russell, who worked as a content coordinator at Turn 10 until 2016, shared a post on Facebook remembering his time with the studio. Alongside some behind-the-scenes photos, he wrote: “Turn 10 Studios has shuttered the Forza Motorsport space and the team is no more. A very sad day for one of the best car racing video games. I loved my time there.”

He also added in the comments that “Forza Horizon will continue at this point,” and later said the studio “shuttered the Forza Motorsport side only.”

There’s no official word yet from Microsoft about the future of Turn 10 or the Motorsport series, but Russell’s comments, along with other employee posts, paint a pretty grim picture. Eurogamer has reached out to Microsoft for more info.

Other people from Turn 10 have also spoken up after the layoffs. One of them is John Schommer, who worked there for over ten years. On Russell’s post, he replied: “I’m very thankful for the 10 years I was able to be a face and voice for this brand and its awesome car loving community.”

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that almost half of Turn 10 was affected by the layoffs. This was part of a much bigger round of cuts, with Microsoft letting go of around 9,000 employees overall.

That includes teams at ZeniMax, King, and other Xbox studios like Rare and 343 Industries. Microsoft also cancelled multiple games, including Perfect Dark, Everwild, and an unannounced MMO from ZeniMax Online.

The Forza Motorsport series first launched in 2005 on the original Xbox and was seen as Microsoft’s answer to Sony’s Gran Turismo. It focused on realistic driving and simulation racing. While it got several sequels over the years, it was eventually outshined by Forza Horizon, the more casual and open-world racing spin-off developed by Playground Games.

Playground Games, by the way, is still around and currently working on the new Fable game, which got delayed until 2026. The studio is expected to stay focused on Horizon for now, while Motorsport seems to be on ice—or worse.

Things inside Xbox don’t seem great right now. One developer told Engadget they were angry about how leadership handled the layoffs, especially since they were told it was Xbox’s most profitable year ever. “I’m personally super pissed that Phil’s email to us bragged about how this was the most profitable year ever for Xbox in the same breath as pulling the lever,” they said.

Microsoft says it’s putting more energy into AI these days. CEO Satya Nadella said at a recent event that about 30% of Microsoft’s code is now written by AI, and other reports say the company is trying hard to replace some roles with AI tools. Some employees believe this shift is directly connected to the job cuts.

Xbox workers who were laid off have been sharing their stories online, and this latest round of cuts follows previous waves in 2023 and early 2024. Studios like Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games were already shut down earlier.

Even though Xbox revenue is up, that hasn’t stopped the company from cutting teams and cancelling games. And now, with Forza Motorsport possibly gone, it’s another major loss for fans of Xbox’s once-strong first-party lineup.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!