Steam is abuzz this week with a couple of long-anticipated launches, but in Forza Horizon 6’s case, at least, the game isn’t even out for what will be most of its players. The anticipated sequel in the open-world driving game series doesn’t officially launch until May 19, but owners of its most expensive version - the Premium Edition - can play it right now.
Maverick Games, the studio helmed by Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike Brown, have revealed the story-led open-world driving game they've had in the works for a few years now and that's no longer being published by Amazon. It's called Clutch, and blends traditional Horizon-style road and street racing with a story that works in some action movie-esque chases with the police.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Gears of War: Reloaded – last year saw several once-exclusive Xbox titles making the jump to PS5. However, the undisputed most popular port is Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5. Initially launched in 2021, the open-world racer reportedly passed five million sales on Sony’s console last week, according to Alinea Analytics’ Rhys Elliott.
“That’s over $300 million in revenue from a port of a four-year-old game,” he said. “Xbox’s move to third-party is no mystery, especially given Microsoft’s lofty profitability mandates.”
Forza Horizon 6 is the first title in the franchise to be available on a rival console. There’s also the fact that Forza Horizon 5 has been consistently popular since its release (which had more than ten million players in the first week). Combined with the fact that Playground Games continues to offer new content and features, the PS5 version’s success makes sense.
It’s thus more than a little odd that Microsoft wouldn’t prioritize launching Forza Horizon 6 on the PS5 alongside other platforms. Instead, it’s arriving sometime after the Xbox Series X/S and PC versions, which allegedly launch in the first half of this year. Lest you think this is a tactic to push more players to pick up the Xbox version or even purchase Game Pass, the staggered release is apparently due to the PS5 version not being ready.