Playground Games' Forza Horizon 6 opened to a Metacritic score of 92 on May 14 — tying the franchise's joint-best rating alongside Forza Horizon 4 and Forza Horizon 5 — as a separate storm was already brewing: Microsoft had accidentally leaked an unencrypted 155 GB build of the game to Steam five days before paid early access began, then responded by issuing hardware bans expiring December 31, 9999 to anyone caught playing the pirated version. The full game opens to everyone on Xbox Series X/S and PC on May 19, included at no extra cost for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers — but not for those on lower tiers, including Essential, Premium, or Starter.
The combination of the highest reviews of 2026 and a Steam early access concurrent player count of 172,093 — more than double Forza Horizon 5's all-time Steam peak of 81,096 — signals that the series' Japan gamble has paid off decisively. A PS5 release is confirmed for later in 2026.
Microsoft Accidentally Leaked Its Own Game, Then Banned Players for Playing It
On May 10, Microsoft uploaded the unencrypted pre-load files for Forza Horizon 6 to Steam without password protection. The full 155 GB build was extracted, cracked, and distributed across torrent networks within 24 hours, with gameplay streaming on YouTube before the official review embargo lifted. Playground Games issued a statement confirming the situation: "We are aware of reports that a build of Forza Horizon 6 has been obtained prior to its release and can confirm this is not the result of a pre-load issue. We are taking strict enforcement action against any individuals found accessing this build including franchise-wide and hardware bans."
At least one player — a modder known as DVS Squad — received a Hardware ID ban with an expiry date of December 31, 9999: a punishment that effectively locks the affected Windows machine out of Xbox services for life, surviving even a full OS reinstall. DVS Squad later uploaded a response video describing how the ban was circumvented, and called the game "absolutely stunning."
Premium Edition buyers paid $120 for four days of early access starting May 15. Some raised objections on Steam's forums after Microsoft's own preload error allowed strangers to play the same unreleased game for free, days before paying customers could.
Japan Produces the Strongest Map in Franchise History
The Japan setting is the element reviewers have singled out most consistently. Playground Games built a single, seamless open world incorporating a Tokyo city district that, per official developer documentation, is five times larger than Forza Horizon 5's Guanajuato — featuring distinct zones from suburbs and docklands to industrial quarters and downtown streets — alongside Fuji mountain passes, rural villages, and ski slopes in the far north.
IGN called the result a "masterpiece," citing Japan's driving roads and car culture as the game's defining asset. Eurogamer awarded a perfect 100, describing the game as the "cleanest, buzziest, and most engrossing" entry in the series. Gamereactor UK was the prominent outlier at 70, noting the consistent formula left it disappointed. A full breakdown of critical scores is available via Windows Central's review roundup.
Polygon raised the series' structural question most directly, writing that after six mainline entries it is "justifiable to ask how much longer it can follow the smooth grooves of its long-perfected formula without settling into a suffocating routine."
A Score That Locks In Three Games at the Series' Ceiling
Forza Horizon 6's 92 from 62-plus critics makes it the joint-highest-rated entry in franchise history alongside FH4 and FH5, all three at 92. Forza Horizon 3 scored 91 on the same platform. The score also makes Forza Horizon 6 the highest-rated game of 2026 on Metacritic, ahead of Resident Evil Requiem and Pokémon Pokopia, both at 89. Game Informer gave it a 93; DualShockers a 95; Windows Central's Michael Hoglund a 90, calling it "the series at its most confident, most refined, and most fun."
The Early Access Pricing Model Has Its Own Critics
Before a wheel turned in public, the game's $120 Premium Edition price attracted sustained criticism. Kotaku's Zack Zwiezen wrote in January 2026 that Xbox was effectively operating an "early access tax and ransom fee," charging Game Pass subscribers $60 on top of their subscription for access to a finished, fully-tested game on its actual launch date. "When Forza Horizon 6 launches 'four days early' for Premium owners," Zwiezen wrote, "it will still have gone through all the same checks, testing, and Q&A that any other game has to go through to launch on a console. At that point, it has launched." The Premium Edition costs $20 more than its Forza Horizon 5 equivalent; the Game Pass upgrade rose from $50 to $60.
Microsoft's position, reflected in its official product listings, is that the Premium Edition is a content bundle — including VIP membership, two post-launch expansions, a 30-car Car Pass, and two additional car packs — not a time-gate sold in isolation.
Xbox Series X Offers 4K or 60fps — Not Both at Once
On Xbox Series X, the game operates in two modes: Quality mode runs at native 4K/30fps, while Performance mode targets 4K with dynamic resolution scaling to hold a consistent 60fps. The two cannot be combined. Xbox Series S runs at 1440p/30fps in Quality mode or 1080p/60fps in Performance mode, both with dynamic scaling. On PC, the game supports uncapped framerates, DirectStorage 1.2, and upscaling through NVIDIA DLSS 4, AMD FSR 4, and Intel XeSS 2.1. Full resolution and FPS details are confirmed by Playground Games.
511,000 Steam Pre-Orders and a 3.3 Million Wishlist Before a Single Race Was Driven
As of mid-April 2026, analytics firm Alinea Analytics estimated 511,000 copies sold on Steam ahead of launch — generating approximately $28–30 million in gross revenue before release day. The game had accumulated over 3.3 million Steam wishlists since its page launched in September 2025. Among those wishlists, nearly 7% came from Japan, significantly above the country's typical Steam share.
The franchise has the audience for these numbers: according to Alinea Analytics' Rhys Elliott, Forza Horizon 5 reached close to 54 million players across all platforms, with its PS5 port alone generating $300 million in revenue after launching in April 2025.
PS5 Players Are Waiting — and Microsoft Knows What That Audience Is Worth
Forza Horizon 6 is confirmed for PS5 "later in 2026," with no specific date announced beyond a PlayStation Store wishlist page. Microsoft confirmed the PS5 version at its Xbox Developer Direct in January, with Xbox's Craig Duncan acknowledging inconsistency in the company's multiplatform rollout strategy. For PS5 owners, May 19 is not a launch — it is the start of a wait measured in months. Based on what Microsoft now knows Forza Horizon earns on PlayStation, that wait is very likely to be shorter than the near-four years PS5 players waited for Forza Horizon 5.
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