Forza Horizon developer Playground Games had previously been content to pop out three iterations of the popular racing franchise from its home in Leamington Spa, England. But times are changing and the studio is expanding, planning to open a new development house within walking distance of the current site, and with a new project to work on.

"Opening another studio is something we've been talking about for a good few years, but we've been keen not to rush into it," Founder Ralph Fulton told GamesIndustry.biz. "It's a great opportunity for us to test ourselves in a different genre. We feel like we've become pretty good at racing games over the years. We can always get better, we can always strive to get better but we'd love to prove ourselves in a different genre. That's another goal of Project 2, to allow us to do that. We're going to need to hire some very talented people with experience that we don't have."

The new unnamed studio will be working on an open world game that does not focus on racing. However, Fulton was unwilling to divulge any more at this point.

"We are looking at an entirely new leadership team for the new project, which we're in the process of hiring right now," he said. "And we're going to try and make sure that nothing on the two projects depends on one person, because both of the teams should be thinking about their own project. There will be people like myself who are able to oversee both of them, but only to make sure everything's heading in the right direction. The people who are actually doing the work will be dedicated to their project."

Of course, that still leaves room for the current team to continue the Forza Horizon franchise, a series that Playground Games has no intention of abandoning.

"We are looking at an entirely new leadership team for the new project, which we're in the process of hiring right now," Fulton said. "And we're going to try and make sure that nothing on the two projects depends on one person, because both of the teams should be thinking about their own project. There will be people like myself who are able to oversee both of them, but only to make sure everything's heading in the right direction. The people who are actually doing the work will be dedicated to their project."