CLUTCH Isn’t Coming for Forza Horizon 6’s Crown, and Its Developers Say Trying

The video game industry is often viewed as a cutthroat world, where games in the same genre are positioned as fierce rivals, duking it out over a share of the gaming community that enjoys a given style in a zero-sum game. This is especially true in sports gaming, where many sports eventually move toward a monopoly as a single developer reaches a saturation point and competitors bleed off their audience year after year until only the titan remains.

This doesn’t always have to be the case, however, and the team behind the upcoming CLUTCH isn’t letting similarities to the beloved open-world racing franchise Forza Horizon lead to claims that the game is looking to take down its predecessor.

In an interview with The Game Business, and clipped by X user Idle Sloth, lead developers discussed the similarities and what their goals are relative to the racing giant:

It’s not surprising that the team behind CLUTCH holds a great deal of respect for Forza Horizon, given that many of them had their roots in the franchise, including lead designer and creative director Mike Brown, who was clear about their intent to serve as a complementary experience for gamers who love the Horizon series, offering more fun, not a replacement for the fun they already have by finding areas to build on what gamers expect.

“If we swap genres and said, ‘we’re going to kill Call of Duty,’ no one’s going to give you money to do that because it’s stupid,” Brown said. “Those players who bought Call of Duty can buy a second game, and instead you have to go, ‘what fantasies aren’t being fulfilled by the game they’re currently playing that we can offer that means they’ll jump over and play a second game.”

Brown pointed to storytelling as an area where he feels CLUTCH can excel and discussed how he hoped having that appeal would win over new fans.

CLUTCH is scheduled to release in the Spring of 2027 for racing gamers on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.