Update – 22:31, 11th May – Playground Games and SteamDB have released statements confirming that the leaked version of Forza Horizon 6 was not caused by a pre-load issue.
Playground Games posted the following on social media: “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. We encourage fans to sit tight for the game’s release on May 19.”
SteamDB, issued its own statement, following speculation that an early upload of files on Steam was what caused the leak. It reads: “Forza Horizon 6 was very likely leaked by someone with early access to the build (reviewer or similar).
“At around the same time, the file list appeared on SteamDB because someone (could be someone else) used our token dumper. SteamDB does not display or share keys, nor can it provide downloads.”
Original article – 12:01, 11th May – Files for Forza Horizon 6 – the highly anticipated racing release by Playground Games and Microsoft – is being played, in full, ahead of its proper release on the 19th May.
Spotted by keen-eyed users (and still visible on SteamDB) unencrypted files seemingly were uploaded onto the game’s Steam page. An early upload of game files prior to launch is typical for many game releases, but without proper encryption, they can be accessed earlier than intended allowing for access to the game, which may have happened here.
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Here’s the Forza Horizon 6 launch trailer.Watch on YouTube
With the files out in the wild, a few people have downloaded the files, and pirates are playing a cracked version of the game.
Now before some of you get too excited, accessing and playing the game early can come with serious risks. One screenshot circulating online shows one such case, which involves content creator DVS Squad. He uploaded a video of himself playing the leaked version of Horza Horizon 6, without blurring out his account name.
The screenshot shows him receiving in-game mail from the Forza Community team, informing them they’ve been banned for 69,895,509 hours, or until the 31st December, 9999. Eurogamer has checked this creator’s Discord server, and have verified the screenshot’s legitimacy.
Microsoft itself has a rich history of dishing out bans to those who pirate games. You can look all the way back to 2009 where it initiated a sweeping wave of bans for console modifications, which allowed people to access games without buying them. More recently, it permanently banned Gears of War Remake leakers from Xbox One online services. The company has a history of not messing around with this stuff.
Playground Games recently released a massive breakdown of Forza Horizon 6, going into the scale of the map, the types of vehicles available, and the approach to setting a racing game in Japan.