Forza Motorsport Director and Turn 10 Boss Dan Greenawalt Retiring From Microsoft After 27 Years

Dan Greenawalt, a 27-year Microsoft employee who helped build Turn 10 Studios from scratch and directed eight Forza Motorsport games spanning all four Xbox console generations, is retiring from Microsoft, according to a new report.

The Verge's Tom Warren reports that he's seen an internal memo that confirms Greenawalt's departure. “Dan Greenawalt has decided that this is the right time for him to retire from Microsoft,” said Playground Games studio head Trevor Williams. Playground, who develops the Forza Horizon franchise, was merged with Greenawalt's Turn 10 last month as part of Xbox's ongoing "reset."

Williams added, in part, "It’s hard to overstate Dan’s impact over the past 27 years. From shipping Project Gotham Racing on the original Xbox in 2001 to leading the creation of Forza, founding Turn 10 Studios and appearing so many times on our E3 stage, usually making a dramatic entrance with a supercar in tow."

Unfortunately, it looks as though 2023's Forza Motorsport, which was meant to be a platform of sorts that would be evolved and added onto, might be the last Motorsport game for the foreseeable future, if ever, after layoffs hit Turn 10 last year and reportedly relegated the remaining team to support duty on the highly profitable Forza Horizon. Motorsport will not be getting any more new content.

Greenawalt's Forza Motorsport series consistently earned critical acclaim, with all eight games scoring an 8 out of 10 or higher at IGN.