United Kingdom, July 4 -- A former Turn 10 employee has claimed the Forza Motorsport series has been cancelled.

Earlier this week, the studio's parent company, Microsoft, announced swathes of major layoffs across its developers in order to "position Gaming for enduring success" - with Turn 10 said to have been hit particularly hard by the redundancies.

Now, former Turn 10 staffer Fred Russell has said the Forza Motorsport series has been shelved, with the studio now supposedly set to act as a support studio for the Forza Horizon franchise.

Russell - who left Turn 10 in 2016 - wrote on social media: "Turn 10 Studios has shuttered the Forza Motorsport space and the team is no more. A very sad day for one of the best car racing video game...