GoKawiilMaverick Games, an independent studio founded and led by Mike Brown, has unveiled its debut game Clutch. Brown used to work at Playground Games and served as the creative director of Forza Horizon 5, taking over from Ralph Fulton, and a designer for Forza Horizon 4. Maverick describes Clutch as a "cinematic open-world action driving game" with a narrative storyline featuring both story-driven pro circuit campaigns and underground race-and-chase matches.
Clutch revolves around sibling racing prodigies who joined the R1K, a competition that has served as the proving ground for top drivers over the past century. There's also an underground group called "Midnight Collective" with drivers "who love showing off their style and the raw thrill of speed." Apparently, the hero finds himself in trouble at some point and in need of a fixer, and that exposes the presumably dark underbelly of R1K.
The game offers players a deep customization system that goes beyond choosing colors, decals and aftermarket parts. Maverick says you can make a true one-of-kind car to use for missions and races that you can compete in for position and rewards.
"Maverick has assembled a dream team of car lovers and driving fans with decades of experience building genre defining open-world racing games," said Mike Brown. "Our mission from day-one is for Clutch to push the genre into a new era, innovate through new types of open-world sandbox gameplay and deliver a generational leap on the staples of why we love driving games."
The studio will reveal more about the game's story, world and the actors behind its characters at the Summer Game Fest Showcase on June 5. Unfortunately, while Maverick Games did debut the trailer in a YouTube live, it hasn't yet posted the footage properly. If you'd like to watch it right now, you can catch it in the clip below (albeit with streamer commentary alongside), and when it's available, we'll add it in here too. Maverick will release Clutch in the spring of 2027 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.