Maverick Games is setting an unusually high target for its upcoming open-world racing game Clutch, with CEO and creative director Mike Brown openly aiming for the title to compete for the industry’s biggest awards. Brown, who previously served as creative director on Forza Horizon 5 at Playground Games, says creating something new was a stronger motivation than continuing with an established franchise.
Brown discussed his decision and Maverick Games’ ambitions in an interview with Traxion.GG. The developer left Playground Games after years of working on Forza Horizon before establishing Maverick Games in 2022 with other racing-game veterans.
Mike Brown Wanted a Bigger Challenge After Forza Horizon
Brown explained that working on a successful franchise could eventually become too comfortable, even when the games continued to perform well. He said he needs difficult objectives to remain motivated and viewed creating a completely new racing IP as a more exciting challenge than simply producing another sequel.
“With FH5, I was like, right, got to win a BAFTA. Want to get Game of the Year,”
Brown told Traxion.GG. He noted that there was a particular challenge surrounding racing games, because
“Everyone says a driving game can’t win Game of the Year.”
Forza Horizon 5 ultimately won the Innovation in Accessibility award at The Game Awards 2021 and received multiple Game of the Year honors from media outlets. However, Brown explained that the game missed eligibility for The Game Awards’ overall Game of the Year category because of the timing of its release and the event’s submission deadlines.
That experience contributed to Brown’s desire to pursue something more ambitious. Rather than trying to repeat the success of Forza Horizon, he wanted to build a new game that could challenge expectations for the racing genre.
Clutch Has Game of the Year Ambitions
Maverick Games was established during a period of major change across the games industry, with Brown acknowledging that leaving a secure position and launching a new studio involved substantial risk. The company began with just seven people before growing to almost 130 employees working on Clutch.
Brown believes that risk was preferable to becoming complacent. He explained that continuing at Playground Games could have meant comfortably producing another Forza Horizon sequel, but that prospect did not provide the same motivation as building something unfamiliar.
That ambition now defines Clutch. Brown told Traxion.GG,
“We’re going to try and win [overall] Game of the Year.”
The goal is being used as a benchmark throughout development rather than simply as an awards-season aspiration. Brown said the team continually asks whether each part of the game is strong enough to compete with major AAA releases, including large-scale role-playing games and established action franchises.
Maverick Games has also secured Focus Entertainment as publisher after previously working with Amazon. The studio has gradually revealed more of Clutch, which is designed as a new open-world driving experience rather than another entry in an existing franchise.
For Brown, the challenge is therefore bigger than making another successful racing game. Clutch represents Maverick Games’ attempt to prove that a new driving IP can compete at the highest level of the modern AAA industry.
