Not Even Out Yet, Forza Horizon 6 Already Tops 1M Players

A million people paid $120 to play a game that isn't out yet. That sentence shouldn't make sense, but Forza Horizon 6 has turned early access into a full-blown launch event. The standard edition doesn't arrive on Xbox Series X|S and PC until May 19, yet the Premium Edition's four-day head start has already pulled in a staggering player count that most games would kill for at full release.

According to a report from Day One, a leaderboard for one of Forza Horizon 6's early mandatory events, River Split Speed Trap, showed more than 1,191,886 players had completed it. Every single one of those players either bought the $120 Premium Edition or paid $69.99 on top of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. The game's standard $60 option? Still locked.

On Steam alone, the numbers are equally absurd. Forza Horizon 6 hit a peak of 178,009 concurrent players according to SteamDB, more than doubling Forza Horizon 5's all-time Steam record of 81,096. That previous peak came on the first Saturday after FH5's full launch in November 2021. Forza Horizon 6 blew past it before most people can even buy the game.

The $120 Head Start

I keep coming back to the price. The Premium Edition costs twice what the standard game does, and over a million players decided that was fine. That $120 does include two future expansions, a car pass with 30 vehicles, two car packs, a welcome pack, and VIP membership, so it's not purely a pay-for-early-access play. But the four-day head start is clearly doing heavy lifting here. Playground Games has essentially turned impatience into a revenue strategy, and the audience is not only accepting it but sprinting toward it.

This is a racing game, remember. Not a live-service shooter where being first gives you a competitive edge, not an MMO where early access means claiming territory. There's no strategic reason to pay double for four extra days with a singleplayer-focused open-world racer. People just want to drive around Japan that badly.

And honestly, the reviews suggest they're getting their money's worth. Forza Horizon 6 has reportedly dethroned Pokemon Pokopia as 2026's best-reviewed game, with praise centered on its Japanese setting, the sheer volume of content, and sandbox freedom that no other racing series matches. PC Gamer gave it an 84, calling it unambitious in some ways but elevated by its inspired setting. The competition isn't helping either: Need for Speed is on hold while Criterion works on Battlefield, reports suggest Forza Motorsport was cut in Microsoft's restructuring, and even Lego 2K Drive is being delisted. Forza Horizon is winning partly because nobody else is showing up.

The full launch on May 19 will open the floodgates for standard edition buyers and Game Pass subscribers who don't want to pay the upgrade fee. If the Premium Edition alone generated over a million players and a 178K Steam peak, the actual release day numbers could be something else entirely. A PS5 version is also confirmed for later this year, which will push the total even higher. Whatever Playground Games projected internally for this launch, I'd bet they've already blown past it by a comfortable margin.