Amazon Walks Away from Open World Racing Game from Ex-Forza Horizon Devs

Might be a good pick up for Sony, but I think they're working with stellar entertainment on some kind of racer.

@Americansamurai1 - Oh yeah, Sony/XDEV had job listings for that studio some time ago. I had completely forgotten about it.

FORZA Horizon exists when FORZA Motorsport does not because Horizon games have not only popularity, but they are open-world and full of exploration. FORZA Motorsport kept on perpetuating circuit racing and when Horizon came along, that started to become old hat.

As for Amazon walking away, personally I don't think it should matter. Amazon would likely help Horizon 6 sell even more copies, but Amazon are to games what Bugs Bunny is to to game hunters.

All of Amazon time and funding is going towards AI and Data Centers. That mean very little is left in the budget for a budding game publisher. So much for people worrying about companies like Amazon and Google getting involved with gaming. The only reason Microsoft is still involved is cause they are in to deep to pull out, and can't afford to losing game to Valve/Linux.

Well what do they expect, car licenses are expensive, photo graphing/air travel trips are expensive.

They could do no car licenses (Wreckfest doesn't and it still has a same as other games of its type progression system that I was so bored with I did a no upgrades/cars bought run I was so bored, the other vehicles are just visual variety, no interesting modes/events with their weight and design at all, just more boring races in new on screen lawn mowers and motor sofas and things) but we can't have that, that'd be ridiculous. They have to have car licenses to excite an audience in their whatever boring contemporary version of a country for some boring road trip game with boring events, with boring things to do and other boring immersion that's not fun.

We have to have a generic open world racing game with nothing exciting to do in it and compete with the other ones that do the same. Why wouldn't they. XD

Because we need more Forza Horizon, The Crew, NFS competitors, that continue to be missing the mark and even then I find the mark very boring as it is for these games.

I couldn't care less here. The staff will make the same boring decisions as any other racing game in the modern era, so I couldn't care less. Whether it released or not.

@SuntannedDuck2 Pretty sure they make these games for people who are fans of cars and driving games, not people who seem to hate them or couldn't care less.

Not every racing game needs to appeal to the Mario Kart audience, I personally find the "boring" immersive and realistic racing games to be fun and exciting. It sounds like the new Carmageddon is the type of racing game you would be into.

@nolifebr yeah I think a lot of people forgot, hoping is a new motorstorm

@JayJ I'm mostly talking about additional options for these games. That's all. Dirt 5/Drive Club style side objectives/side modes plenty of racing games had over the years Sim or Arcade, not a total conversion. XD

Games aren't just fantasy, pirate, shooters being deathmatch/battle royale or WW2/modern era. Aka setting only defining them. Battlefield 2 Modern Combat console/Driver San Fransisco hot swap characters around maps feature, best part of those games.

So the traffic/lights/lanes event types that took me 2 seconds to come up with is crossing the line to mean Carmageddon or Blur or Split Second type action? Yeah no. I have an imagination/dev mind constraints for ideas do devs/players?

Even the cooling system in an FIA Truck racing game was the most 'realism' but exciting gameplay feature I'd seen in a racing game in years.

I'm not saying oh Spy Hunter transforming vehicles or play as Jet Skis/Boats/Trains/hover cars instead of regular cars. Or gas invades the locations.

Or driving on the sides of buildings. Nothing like that. XD

Project Gotham Racing had varied events in cut off city streets, garages, Geormetry Wars, walkable dealership, track maker, kudos system. Look/play good.

Not talking kart racers, I care about racing games but I've played plenty old/new with far more engaging realism/gameplay ideas/progression & it's all gone for the 'realism' and empty games we get nowadays. I think about constraints cars have and make modes about them. That's all I'm really saying here. If that wasn't clear what I meant, just to clarify.

Clearly kids games have that creativity to it/oversimplify too and adult games are about realism/skill tree RPG design with whatever graphics/story telling, forget gameplay, gameplay is for kids/so PS2 era, graphics/story are so modern era.

While Echoes of the End & Inertial Drift say hello.

Even Onrush was the most amazing of mode/event types in YEARS, regardless of it flopping.

The new Carmadgeddon is generic roguelike trash.

You can have photography and add more objectives to it or free photo taking without them. Stunts? Stuntman movie for 1 or few missions?

You could have find all the tourist spots or hit all the flower pots/lamps, or sign posts or whatever. Interactivity in the world not just ' LOOKING at it' and driving around it with races, drifts and other basic things. That's the point.

I play literally any racing sub genre, so no 'only arcadey action' sure that's ALL I play stereotypically. I've played so many sim, arcade, anti grav, kart racers, rally, bike, jet ski and more. Do you think I'm only into ARCADE or action style. XD Or any other overtake, sprint (GT4+ 1 lap magic), Dirt 5/Drive Club side objectives, other side missions that FM6 and FM7 offered.

Forza Motorsport had bowling, does that fit a simcade racing game? GTI Club had hot tomato and car soccer before Rocket League.

Because me enjoying Alfa Romeo Racing Italiano's RPG/rewind system before Grid 2008/FM3, Sega GT's car builder/Pure's ATV builder, Enthusia's roulette/clean driving/license tests, and more is me being a kart racing type player. XD

Like I just came up with for TKR 2026 mini review today, why not traffic/lights or lane related or fuel limiting, other types. That took me seconds to come up with & within limits of TXR being about an express way.

Or overtakes, car soccer, bowling, Stuntman style, PC3/others target scoring, any Juiced 2's 4 drift modes for other games.

Part 2:
We only allowed races/derbies/time trials/elimination or Point to Point the big boy event types. XD

Sure the realism of Gran Turismo 7 is so bad because it has a fuel limiting challenge or coffee break cone challenges in it as gameplay variety, were only allowed to focus on the races/cars/tracks (real tracks) as the only type of content. XD

Also oh yeah such great games, such limited playlists of events like NFS Unbound, such grind and lack of content, artstyle change was cool but limited events and progression what modern era fun. XD

Shooters aren't just deathmatch or only set as contemporary settings, they have story, they have capture the flag/territories and other things right? Splatoon was a more fun shooter and level design in the last few years, regardless of the 'squids' and street culture angle it's core moveset and level design was so much fun. So was Titanfall 2 with it's factory level and time jumping one.

I think programming and animations, I don't care what location it's set in and fav car models/brands. I'm not thinking wow this place looks great like a normal person focusing on how nice it's set in this real world location, I think how games are made, what can you DO in these locations and what they can be made into. XD That's the difference. I don't think like a customer.

Because collecting feathers on rooftops in Assassin's Creed games is so realistic. XD Sunset Overdrive had tower defence instead of generic outposts, where is challenges/side objects for outposts in those open world types? No just generic layouts and enemy patterns, how boring. Traps? No. Poison/gas masked enemies?

Use the constraints cars have and put random events around them in these open worlds not just the same boring events repeated and the only selling point is the car/location every game that's just boring.

Dirt 5 (no idea about 4 or Showdown but 3 didn't have that), or Drive Club had different side objectives.

If Ratchet games can have weapon cycling and poison gas not just a timer or just an arena with varied enemies, no other modifiers, the game would be boring with just enemies as the only change (arenas/level layouts do matter). So other spins on things are allowed? Ratchet Deadlocked was an entire game about arena gauntlets with modifiers.

Or my Foamstars modes of building creatively/to a goal (point a to b), clean up foam (so reverse), power ups, traps, but they remixed 2 done before modes from other games then came up with other ones using 'foam' as a mechanic.

I mean the delivery feature in FH6 is something but still seems a bit eh to me. It needs more then just 'look we did this thing and it's still realism'. I mean make it arcadey and exciting, offer a bunch of rules with it, or side objectives or something.

Why not have a car or side human character waterboarding thing or car skiing or something. Oh too far that if they did that. XD Or just snowmobiles.

I haven't played many open world racing games but even Burnout Paradise was more exciting then most modern ones and I haven't played many of the NFS open worlds mostly the circuit ones so far. Even The Run was a load of run.

WRC3 a annual game, I had more fun with it's campaign than anything in a long time, because it's standard stages, it's gates/points, and other ones made the most fun of events I'd ever played.

Part 3:
I don't just play for 'immersion' I play for gameplay, which gameplay takes a back seat all the time to push immersion aka cutting corners for people with no imagination or to sell you a location/story and not gameplay, sorry gameplay that's overly basic and boring, you play to see story and backdrops. Animal/human movesets are the most boring they have ever been.

You don't have to be a kid friendly game to offer wacky movesets in 90s era platformers?

Mario has more movesets for a human regardless of being a fantasy world. Pitfall Lost Expedition is an Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider type game that's a metroidvania and has some great mundane but still great movesets and items for exploration. They still fit the theme while offering 'gameplay' reasons for things.

The locations can be whatever they want them to be. I don't care.

Forget gameplay these days we only sell movie style stories with generic easy to understand set pieces or formulia fantasy worlds and elves/dwarves then new original fantasy creatures (lazy artists) and racing games with driving through holiday destinations.

Not actual arcadey objectives or other event/mode depth anymore that'd be ridiculous to develop just focus on the graphics and physics clearly, who has time for other gamey rules for events right? Just offer a real world location to drive and nothing fun to do in it.

You can make any modes with a lawn mower to hit things. You could a truck with more swinging parts of it to fit into gaps., or a car and a caravan, or a truck with a trailer, but no we can't have something dangerous like that and gameify it that'd be ridiculous. XD

I literally play any car, bike, dirt bike, rally car, train, F1, MX/ATV, Jet Ski, Snowmobile, and whatever else related racing games. I talk gameplay, so I'm going to talk gameplay. Not 'simulating' the experience of going to whatever place in the world and whatever cars are provided of licenses in the game. When if 'things to do and see' are boring, aka the gameplay, that's my point.

I think why do human/animal characters play boringly and are too heavy or have limited animations/moves for platforming, combat, whatever, why we get less magic powers and other things, where is using them for interactivity in the world like Echoes of the End. Using Ice powers to make ice platforms, not just ice particles to hit enemies, wow how riveting.

I think open world racers need more, they just seem like mass produced car/location games repeated forever, they just need more too them.

Even anti grav, where is a WipEout style Zone or any other types of events? We don't get that just 'look it;'s a scifi setting and you get used to the way these scifi vehicles are and the same boring events over and over'.

Like take advantage of it being a open world, or scifi game or with particular vehicles other then cars, whether a lawn mower, train, boat, whatever, offer modes/events. It's what you USE them for.

Repeat: You can make any modes with a lawn mower to hit things. You could a truck with more swinging parts of it to fit into gaps., or a car and a caravan, or a truck with a trailer, but no we can't have something dangerous like that and gameify it that'd be ridiculous. XD

Part 4:
I can go to any location/any car in ANY game, to me that's just formulaic boring appeal. What you can DO in those places sure, but you can set a game anywhere and to me it's still just a boring visual backdrop, games are about playing, not just looking at the eye candy of buildings and cars or photography.

You can't interact with any of it, or have events to change the way you play along the streets/hills/mountains, that's my issue with these games, the locations aren't a playground, just a backdrop that's empty.

it's like a platformer having you walk around everything, or a skating game with limited places to grind, it's a pretty boring location instead it of that moveset/interactivity of the world. That's my point but with racing game events.