New AAA studio Lighthouse Games formed by Playground co-founder Gavin Raeburn

gamesindustry.biz:

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A new AAA development studio has opened doors in the UK hub of Leamington Spa, helmed by the former studio head and co-founder of Forza Horizon creator Playground Games.

Lighthouse Games is the latest venture by veteran developer Gavin Raeburn, who helped form Playground in 2010 and oversaw the creation and rise of the Horizon games, which became some of Microsoft's best-selling titles – even outperforming the core Forza Motorsport games from which they were spun out.

Now heading up a team of 30, comprised of both former colleagues and other experienced developers, Raeburn is hard at work on an unannounced new IP. The studio head spoke exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz about his new business and why he's happy to be once again working with a blank slate.

"I'm at my happiest when I can see a sky of potential above me to work towards," Raeburn says. "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.

"People should be looking at Lighthouse expecting that we'll be producing something highly polished and technologically ambitious"

"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