Microsoft and Playground Games announced that General Manager and Co-Founder Trevor Williams will step up as Studio Head to replace Gavin Raeburn, the Studio Director and Co-Founder who's been serving in that capacity for the last 12 years. A major player in the Forza series, Raeburn announced he would be stepping down but has yet to reveal what his future plans are.

"After 12 years working on five award-winning Forza Horizon games, Gavin Raeburn is leaving Playground Games as Studio Director," wrote Alan Hartman, Microsoft's CVP of Forza and Fable. "A founding member of Playground Games, we thank Gav for his leadership and contributions to the Forza franchise and wish him all the best. Co-Founder Trevor Williams will transition from General Manager to Studio Head effective immediately, as the Playground Games team focuses on updates to Forza Horizon 5 and the development of Fable."

Gavin Raeburn is something of an industry legend, having worked on cult classics like The Equalizer for the Commodore 64, all the way up to Codemasters' TOCA Championship, DiRT, and GRID. Raeburn left Codemasters to co-found Playground Games in 2009 and built what has since become one of Microsoft's most important studios.

Playground Games continues work on Forza Horizon 5, likely building DLC expansions as we've seen from previous entries. Playground is also working on a reboot of classic Xbox franchise Fable, soaking up developer talent from the likes of Rockstar Games and CD Projekt RED to make it happen.

(All information was provided by Windows Central)