Playground Games co-founder and studio director Gavin Raeburn has left the company after 12 years of working there. The news was shared by Microsoft (who owns Playground Games) in a statement earlier today, as initially reported by Windows Central.

Raeburn has been at the company since 2009 when he originally co-founded it and is now leaving for elsewhere, though he has yet to reveal where exactly. He is a veteran of the games industry. Before co-founding Playground Games, he worked for more than two decades at Codemasters, where he worked on racing franchises like Dirt, Grid and F1.

In a statement, Alan Hartman, Microsoft CVP of Forza and Fable, said:

“After 12 years working on five award-winning Forza Horizon games, Gavin Raeburn is leaving Playground Games as studio director. 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.”

Forza Horizon 5 was one of the best games of 2021 (check out our review here), and Playground Games is also set to develop the next Fable game as well. Raeburn will probably be happy that he left the company on a high, and we wish him the best for his next endeavours.