Forza Horizon 6 hits 219,000 peak

AR12Gaming said on May 19 that Forza Horizon 6 had climbed past 219,000 concurrent players on Steam, citing a new all-time peak and total players above 1.5 million across platforms. By Tuesday, SteamDB showed the game had moved higher still, reaching an all-time peak of 231,815 concurrent players. Metacritic listed the game at 92, while OpenCritic listed it at 91. The figures gave Playground Games’ new release one of the strongest opening-day PC showings in the series and in the racing genre more broadly. ### How high did the Steam number actually go? SteamDB listed Forza Horizon 6 at an all-time peak of 231,815 concurrent players on May 19, with the record updated the same day. That is above the “over 219,000” figure circulated earlier on X by AR12Gaming, and above the roughly 181,775 peak SteamDB had recorded on May 17 during the early-access period. The Tuesday increase came as the standard edition opened more broadly on PC and Xbox. SteamDB also showed more than 159,000 players live at one point on Tuesday, indicating the peak was not a brief anomaly but part of sustained launch-day traffic. ### Where did the 1.5 million player figure come from? AR12Gaming said total players had passed 1.5 million across platforms, a figure that reflects Xbox and PC participation beyond Steam alone. Steam does not publish platform-wide totals for Xbox consoles, Microsoft Store PC users or Game Pass players, so that number could not be independently verified through Steam data. Third-party coverage earlier this week had also reported that Forza Horizon 6 crossed 1.5 million players before full launch, tying that growth to Premium Edition early access and Game Pass availability. Xbox had promoted the game’s May 19 launch for Xbox Series X|S and PC, with broader access likely expanding the audience beyond the early-access base. ### How does this compare with earlier Forza Horizon games? GameSpot reported on May 16 that Forza Horizon 5 had set the previous franchise Steam concurrency record at 81,096 players in November 2021. That means Forza Horizon 6 more than doubled the prior series high even before Tuesday’s latest increase. TheGamer reported on May 18 that Forza Horizon 6 had already become the top concurrent racing game on SteamDB’s racing chart during the weekend surge. SteamDB’s May 19 figure pushed that lead further. ### Were the review scores in the post accurate? Metacritic listed Forza Horizon 6 at 92 on May 19, based on critic reviews across its tracked platforms. OpenCritic listed the game at 91 and assigned it a “Mighty” rating. Those scores matched the review figures AR12Gaming cited in the post. Metacritic also showed the game released on May 19 for Xbox Series X and PC, while listing a PlayStation 5 version for later in 2026. ### Why were so many players in before full launch? Polygon reported on May 18 that Forza Horizon 6 had already posted full-launch-level Steam numbers during early access, helped by players buying the Premium Edition for earlier entry. GameSpot and other outlets also tied the fast start to franchise momentum and the game’s availability through Xbox Game Pass. Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios launched the full release on May 19 for Xbox Series X|S and PC. Metacritic lists the standard edition at $69.99, and publisher announcements cited by Gematsu said the PlayStation 5 version is due later in 2026. (steamdb.info)