Forza Horizon 6 Proves Xbox Still Has One Franchise No One Can Touch

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It’s interesting how closely consistency relates to the idea of perfection. Simply continuing to do the same thing isn’t enough, particularly in the video game world. Players always want more from their favorite games – new worlds, stories, ways to improve, better graphics, more music, and endless content. It’s a real challenge to surpass what you’ve already done, especially when you’re constantly trying to improve and set new standards.

Few franchises consistently deliver high quality like Forza Horizon. Developed by Playground Games before Microsoft bought the studio, it’s known for its reliably excellent games. Each release has been well-received by critics, starting with an 85 Metascore for the first game, followed by an 86 for its sequel. Forza Horizon 3 and 4 on Xbox One both received scores above 90, and incredibly, Forza Horizon 5 managed to achieve even higher scores across three different platforms.

Despite already having supported Forza Horizon 5 with five years of updates and two major expansions, the developers haven’t rested. They’ve now released Forza Horizon 6, finally letting players explore Japan – a location fans have been asking for for a long time.

Is anyone surprised that the game currently has a Metascore of 92 based on 64 reviews? It’s no shock that IGN calls it Playground Games’ best-looking and best-sounding game yet, or that GameSpot believes it features the best map in the Forza Horizon series so far. Even Game Informer is saying it’s one of the best racing games of this generation – and that’s a generation that includes Forza Horizon 5!

It’s unlikely this game will disappoint, and our review – which highlighted everything from the huge number of cars and customization options to the diverse activities like delivering food and street racing – supports that. It feels almost predictable that Playground Games will deliver another fantastic experience. They consistently excel with this series.

It’s amazing how consistently excellent this game is, and people often try to downplay its achievements. Some say it’s ‘just a racing game,’ ignoring the huge effort involved in building a detailed open world that blends realistic driving with fun arcade action. Others claim it’s nothing new, even though it includes lots of fresh content, a redesigned progression system, and beautifully crafted new environments. And some criticize it for not changing things drastically, as if sticking with a solid foundation is a negative.

Even when people say things feel repetitive, it’s hard to argue with how consistently Playground Games creates immersive open worlds that are a joy to explore. They also excel at making each vehicle feel distinct and exciting, leaving you eager to try them all.

But the question of how Xbox can improve becomes even more critical when you look at its other major game series. Do we even need to talk about Halo, considering how clearly its quality has declined over time? I’m not trying to overly criticize the developers – they did manage to create a good multiplayer experience with Infinite, after all.

Halo Studios’ recent attempt to update the original Halo: Combat Evolved didn’t go well – fans strongly disliked Combat Evolved Anniversary. Now, they’re essentially starting over and rebuilding the game again. Could this explain why we haven’t heard much about it lately? With a possible release in July, Xbox might be planning to reveal everything next month, hoping a quick marketing push will limit criticism and doubt.

The Gears of War series has generally been quite good over the years, with Judgment being the main outlier, and it came out in a different time for the franchise. While the multiplayer still isn’t flawless, and Reloaded disappointed Steam players by leaving out split-screen co-op, Gears has surprisingly taken a long time to really hit its stride. Gears of War: E-Day looks promising with its return to a horror setting, but we haven’t seen any actual gameplay yet.

Several other highly anticipated games have faced delays or challenges. State of Decay 3, announced in 2020, is just entering closed alpha testing after a long wait, though some creators have already had a chance to play it. Perfect Dark‘s reboot was cancelled, along with Everwild and ZeniMax’s Blackbird. Even Microsoft Flight Simulator‘s 2024 sequel has received criticism for seeming unnecessary, despite improvements to its performance – though some issues still remain.

Xbox definitely has some great games, but Forza Horizon has consistently been a standout title since its first release, always meeting and often exceeding expectations. Each new Forza Horizon game has been incredibly popular, and Forza Horizon 6 is proving to be no different. It already had 2.6 million wishlists on Steam by February, making it one of the platform’s top sellers. Given that over ten million people played the previous game within its first week, Forza Horizon 6 is expected to be even more successful.

The central question remains: how does Playground Games consistently achieve such high quality? It seems they deeply understand what fans want and, crucially, have the talent and technical ability to bring their vision to life. Microsoft deserves praise for giving the studio creative freedom and avoiding interference. Unlike some franchises that simply release sequels with minor updates, Forza Horizon benefits from a dedicated team of developers who are committed to exceeding both their own standards and the expectations of their players.

Honestly, the quality of the work is so high that even the reboot of Fable, a previously struggling Xbox series, looks promising, despite reports of development problems. We’ll see in the coming months if it can live up to its complex features and tell a good story, especially since the studio hasn’t made this type of action RPG before. But at this point, Playground Games has earned enough trust to make me optimistic. That said, Xbox shouldn’t rely on them to develop all its games – we don’t want a repeat of the issues with Massive Entertainment.

With Forza Horizon 6 just released, the overwhelmingly positive response is likely to continue with enthusiastic fan feedback – and probably some criticism, as always. Playground Games will support the game for years to come with new expansions and content. They’ll also be working on the next installment, aiming to build on the franchise’s success while maintaining the fun and exciting experience players have come to expect.

Please be aware that the opinions shared in this article are solely those of the author and don’t reflect the official stance of GamingBolt.

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2026-05-19 17:13