Former Studio Head of Playground Games Establishes AAA Studio Lighthouse Games - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 27 March 2023 / 1,387 ViewsThe former studio head and founder of Forza Horizon developer Playground Games Gavin Raeburn has announced the formation of a new AAA studio called Lighthouse Games. The studio is based in Leamington Spa, England.
"I’m delighted that 30 former colleagues and other industry heavyweights have chosen to join me at Lighthouse," said Raeburn.
"With Horizon, Playground and I created one of the most successful Xbox franchises of all time. We delivered significant commercial success year after year, to massive critical acclaim, following the success from my time at Codemasters leading DiRT, GRID, and F1. That DNA is now at Lighthouse, and with it, we intend to build something truly special using all our experience to create a new genre-defining franchise."
Lighthouse Games currently has a team of 30, including former colleagues and other experienced developers. The studio is working on an unannounced new IP.
"I'm at my happiest when I can see a sky of potential above me to work towards," Raeburn told GamesIndustry in an interview. "I want to achieve as much as I can in my career, and although I don't move often, the moves I have made have all been driven by that desire to achieve more and to make the biggest and best games I possibly can. I've only got one career, and I want to make the most of it. I like, and indeed need to see that potential ahead of me – always having something new to work towards. When I have that, I'm happy.
"And that's what Lighthouse is about for me. It's about having an open sky above in which to grow with my team, and do even better things. This is the vision we all share at Lighthouse – to utilise all our experience and learnings to achieve something bigger and better than we have achieved before; something truly special."
He added, "People should be looking at Lighthouse expecting that we'll be producing something highly polished and technologically ambitious. That's exactly our ambition, and the heritage of our team makes that possible."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.