Forza Horizon 6 Pirate Banned Until the Year 9999

69,895,509 hours. That's roughly 7,973 years, or a ban that doesn't expire until December 31, 9999. That's the punishment one content creator received after playing a leaked build of Forza Horizon 6 on camera without bothering to hide his account name.

The creator in question, DVS Squad, uploaded footage of himself playing the unreleased racer and promptly received in-game mail from the Forza Community team informing him of the comically long suspension. A screenshot circulating on social media shows the ban notice in full, and DVS Squad has since posted a seven-minute video claiming he's completely unbothered. "I knew the risk, I simply didn't care," he said, adding that he didn't expect to have much trouble getting around the account ban.

He might want to reconsider that confidence. Playground Games isn't just handing out account-level slaps here.

Hardware Bans on the Table

"We are taking strict enforcement action against any individuals found accessing this build, including franchise-wide and hardware bans," Playground Games announced on social media. "We encourage fans to sit tight for the game's release on May 19." A franchise-wide ban locks you out of every Forza title. A hardware ban ties the punishment to your physical machine, not just your account. You can make a new gamertag all you want; if your console or PC is flagged, you're done.

Microsoft has form here. Back in 2009, the company ran a sweeping wave of bans targeting modded Xbox 360 consoles, and more recently it permanently banned players who leaked Gears of War Remake footage from Xbox One online services entirely. The year-9999 ban is absurd on its face, but the message behind it is dead serious: play our game before we say you can, and you lose access to everything.

The leak itself sparked initial speculation that Playground had accidentally uploaded unencrypted files to Steam's backend ahead of Forza Horizon 6's May 19 launch. That theory was quickly shut down. Playground's statement on May 11 confirmed the leak "is not the result of a pre-load issue." SteamDB backed that up with its own clarification, stating that "Forza Horizon 6 was very likely leaked by someone with early access to the build (reviewer or similar)" and that while a file list appeared on SteamDB around the same time, the site "does not display or share keys, nor can it provide downloads."

So someone with legitimate early access, likely a reviewer or content partner, appears to have let the build slip into the wild. That's a particularly bad look given that Forza Horizon 6's Premium Edition sells early access as one of its headline perks. People who paid extra for the privilege of playing a few days before everyone else are now watching pirates stream the game over a week ahead of launch. I'd be annoyed too.

What makes the DVS Squad situation almost funny is the sheer brazenness of it. Playing a leaked build is one thing. Streaming it publicly with your gamertag visible is another. And then posting a video afterwards saying you don't care? That's the kind of decision that turns a quiet account ban into a franchise-wide hardware lockout with your name attached to it. Microsoft clearly wants to make examples, and DVS Squad volunteered.

Forza Horizon 6 launches May 19 on Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5, with Premium Edition holders getting in on May 15. A post from a Forza community account noted the leak had spread across social media and YouTube, so expect spoilers if you're trying to go in fresh on the Japan-set open world.