Forza Horizon 6’s PS5 Delay Is Getting Harder To Defend

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The latest installment in the racing series, Forza Horizon 6, is officially ready for release – and on schedule, considering the developer’s solid track record (though we won’t mention their other project, Fable). Details about the game’s graphics settings for Xbox have been released, and you can now begin downloading the game. PC players will need a significant 160 GB of space on a solid-state drive. The game’s radio stations have also been announced, including a new station called Gacha City Radio. I’ve decided to take a break from open-world games until we see if a character from Edgerunners appears in Wuthering Waves, but if Forza Horizon 6 has an amazing soundtrack like previous games, I’ll be thrilled.

It’s clear there’s a lot of excitement around this new release, even though it came out nearly five years after the fifth game, which has been consistently updated. Early numbers show over 500,000 copies sold on Steam, and it’s likely that over 2.6 million people added it to their wishlists before launch. Currently, it’s the sixth highest-earning game on the platform.

Steam is just one platform, and judging by how popular Forza Horizon 5 was, Forza Horizon 6 is likely to cause Game Pass subscriptions to jump significantly. The game’s success was almost certain once Playground Games announced Japan as the setting.

All that said, why couldn’t this launch on day one for PS5?

I don’t want to tell the studio how to run things, but it’s a fair question to ask. Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan recently explained to GamesRadar why Fable might be available on launch day for the console while Forza Horizon 6 wouldn’t be. He admitted they aren’t always consistent with game releases – sometimes a game is available in one place, other times in many. He assured readers they are working to improve this and be more consistent in the future.

The initial reaction seemed positive, but then I recalled a report from VGC’s Andy Robinson stating that the open-world racing game has been designed for the PS5 for some time. The only reason it’s not releasing on the same day as other platforms is because it wasn’t finished, even with help from Turn 10 Studios.

Given everything we know about the game – its massive size, with Tokyo City being over five times bigger than anything Playground Games has created before, and the sheer number of tracks – it’s not surprising that development is taking longer. It’s also hard to fault Microsoft, especially considering they’re weighing up exclusive releases for their games. Any console maker would likely want a game this impressive to be exclusive to their systems, at least initially.

While it’s unlikely to convince PlayStation fans to switch to an Xbox Series X or S, especially with the current economic climate, this will definitely boost revenue for PC Game Pass. Marketing plays a huge role, as always with big-budget games, and most of the advertising budget will naturally focus on upcoming Xbox and PC releases. This even extends to things like the special edition controller and headset – it’s all part of a larger marketing strategy.

As a gamer, I’m also thinking about how well this game will run. Even though the Series S isn’t as powerful as the Series X, the developers probably don’t want to bother with the older Xbox One anymore. But they still need to spend time making sure it’s smooth for everyone, especially on PC where everyone has different hardware setups.

Despite all the points mentioned, why does not being available at launch feel like such a significant mistake? The answer is simple: look at the success of Forza Horizon 5.

Expected to launch in April 2025, this game is shaping up to be Xbox’s most successful exclusive title – excluding Minecraft. Even if you’re skeptical of sales figures, the support studio Virtuos reported over five million copies sold on PlayStation 5 just last year, and that number has likely increased since then.

It’s surprising how well the game has done, and maybe Microsoft and Playground Games didn’t expect this level of success. However, the fact that Turn 10 Studios was planned to primarily support Forza Horizon 6 – and then experienced layoffs – suggests they at least saw this possibility coming. We likely won’t ever know for sure why the release was delayed, but the most likely explanation is simply that the game wasn’t finished when it was originally planned.

Considering Playground is concentrating on completing the game and Turn 10 has significantly fewer staff after last year’s layoffs, plus the work needed to optimize for features like the DualSense controller and PS5 Pro, Microsoft will likely prioritize a thorough, polished port, even if it takes a long time. The launch of Starfield on PS5, which was plagued with crashes that required multiple fixes, serves as a cautionary tale. Both Microsoft and Playground Games want to avoid a similar situation, especially given the potential for Forza Horizon 6 to be a major success on the platform.

Delaying the game’s launch also impacts features like crossplay. While the game will likely still have a large player base, it would have been amazing to have everyone playing together on all platforms from the start. There’s also a tricky question about how the PlayStation 5 version fits into the release schedule. If rumors are true and Halo: Campaign Evolved comes out in July, Fable in October (or later), and Gears of War: E-Day sometime in the second half of the year, when will Forza Horizon 6 actually be released?

Launching in September is possible, and we believe it could attract a good number of players, but it would face competition from games like Marvel’s Wolverine, Phantom Blade Zero, and The Blood of Dawnwalker. October is also an option, though we anticipate many other games being released around that time, including the new Call of Duty. November is out of the question due to the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, and even though December might be less crowded, Grand Theft Auto 6 could still likely be the main focus – and top seller – that month.

It’s a really unusual situation, particularly with games like Halo: Combat Evolved and Fable planned to launch simultaneously on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. It seems likely that Gears of War: E-Day could be released on multiple platforms as well. Microsoft might even release Forza Horizon 6 on PS5 around the same time and not worry much if it doesn’t sell incredibly well right away – they’re clearly doing well financially! Forza Horizon 5 proved to be a huge success, even though it came out almost four years after its original release.

Microsoft might be taking a long-term approach, betting that the game will eventually sell well on PlayStation 5, even if it takes a while. If releasing it on PS5 encourages more people to try Game Pass or buy an Xbox in the meantime, they could still come out ahead. The good news for PlayStation players is they can expect updates and new content later on, potentially around the time the first expansion is released. Plus, Xbox won’t be getting games like Marvel’s Wolverine, Phantom Blade Zero, or Silent Hill: Townfall anytime soon – so it’s a trade-off. Ultimately, hopefully PlayStation 5 players won’t have to wait too long to explore the game’s Japan-inspired setting.

Just so you know, the opinions in this article are the author’s own and don’t reflect the official stance of GamingBolt.

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2026-05-09 19:20