Forza Horizon 5 set a historic precedent earlier this year when it was released on PlayStation 5. It marked the first time Microsoft’s exclusive Xbox racing brand had appeared on a Sony machine – historically a rival in the console space. It was a landmark moment in Microsoft’s pivot to Xbox being more of a software company than a hardware-restricted one.
This move meant that when Forza Horizon 6 was announced this morning, with a Japanese setting and a 2026 release date, one of the biggest questions was: which platforms will it be released on? Will it be a PlayStation 5 game and if so, when will it be released – at the same time?
Now, we partially know the answer. Yes, Forza Horizon 6 will be a PlayStation 5 game, but no, it won’t be released at the same time. A Forza Horizon 6 announcement post on Xbox News Wire reveals, in an endnote, that: “Forza Horizon 6 will launch first on Xbox consoles and PC in 2026.” And then: “Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios are also working together to bring Forza Horizon 6 to PlayStation 5 post-launch.”
A period of exclusivity makes sense, of course – why concede every advantage? It’s also worth underlining that Forza Horizon 6 will be a day-one Game Pass game as all Microsoft Studios games are. The question now becomes how long will PlayStation owners have to wait? Six months, a year, more? And in that wait, will we glimpse a plan Microsoft intends to return to as it brings more internally developed games to other consoles? This is new ground we’re breaking, remember.
We’re promised more information on Forza Horizon 6 in the spring next year.
