Forza Horizon 6 hits 170,000 players

Playground Games' Forza Horizon 6 opened Premium Edition early access on May 15, and SteamDB data showed the racing game's concurrent player count rising above 170,000 on Steam. The figure circulated across X and gaming accounts on Friday as players posted screenshots and login reports during the first day of access. Microsoft-owned Xbox Game Studios is publishing the game, which has a full release scheduled for May 19 on PC and Xbox. Steam's store page lists the standard edition at $69.99, the Deluxe Edition at $99.99 and the Premium Edition at $119.99. ### How big is the Steam launch compared with the last Horizon game? SteamDB showed Forza Horizon 6 above 170,000 concurrent players on May 15. That exceeds the all-time Steam peak recorded for Forza Horizon 5, which SteamDB lists at 81,096 players on November 13, 2021. Steam Charts, a separate third-party tracker, lists Forza Horizon 5's historical peak at about 80,745 players in November 2021. (steamdb.info) The two trackers use slightly different rounding and presentation, but both place the prior game's Steam high near 81,000. ### Why were players able to get in before the main release? Playground Games said in a January 22 post that Premium Edition buyers would get access four days before the main launch. (steamdb.info) The studio said Forza Horizon 6 would release on May 19, 2026, with Premium Edition early access beginning May 15. Steam's store page said "Advanced Access Starts May 14" and, in a May 14 news post on the page, said early access was "now starting to roll out" for Premium Edition players. (steamcharts.com) The difference appears to reflect Steam's storefront timing versus the broader May 15 date used in Forza's own announcements. ### What exactly is in Forza Horizon 6, according to the official listings? (forza.net) Forza.net says Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan and includes more than 550 real-world cars. The official site says the game will launch first on Xbox Series X|S and PC, with a PlayStation 5 version coming later in 2026. Steam's product page describes Tokyo City as the largest urban area in a Forza Horizon game and says players can earn 57 achievements, collect trading cards and use community features tied to the Steam release. (store.steampowered.com) The same page lists Playground Games as developer and Xbox Game Studios as publisher. ### What is the separate Steam free-copy story that spread alongside the player-count posts? (forza.net) Dexerto reported on May 15 that Steam Support offered one customer a free standard-edition game after a shipping issue sent a Steam Controller order to the UK by mistake. The report said the customer later chose Forza Horizon 6. (store.steampowered.com) The support message described by Dexerto said Valve told the customer that "a small number of packages were mistakenly routed to the UK" and asked them to pick any standard-edition title available in their region. Reuters could not independently verify the underlying Reddit post from the material reviewed here, but Dexerto said the user selected Forza Horizon 6, a game Steam lists at $69.99 in the United States. (dexerto.com) ### Where can players get the game next? May 19 is the next key date for the launch. Playground Games says Forza Horizon 6 will be available then on Xbox Series X|S and PC through the Microsoft Store and Steam, while Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members can access it at no additional cost from that date; the PlayStation 5 version is listed for later this year. (forza.net) (dexerto.com)