Forza Horizon 6 has crushed the franchise record on Steam for peak concurrent users, and that’s especially noteworthy since the game is only available for a select group of people currently.
Forza Horizon 5 set the franchise record for highest peak concurrent-player count on Steam with 81,096 back on November 13, 2021, which was the first Saturday after the game launched on November 9. Forza Horizon 6, meanwhile, hit a high watermark of 172,093 players today, May 15, meaning Forza Horizon 6 doubled up the franchise high (via GamesRadar).
Forza Horizon 4 came to Steam in March 2021, representing the franchise’s debut on Steam, and it peaked at 75,689 concurrent players. The game came to Valve’s digital storefront years after its original release in 2018; players reported many issues at launch and it was delisted from Steam in 2024.
The only way to play Forza Horizon 6 right now is to buy the game’s $120 premium edition or pay an extra $60 for an upgrade. The game’s $70 standard version arrives May 19, and that’s also when Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members can start playing. Alternatively, people subscribed to those tiers of Game Pass can buy the $60 premium edition upgrade to jump in right now.
Given all of this, it stands to reason that Forza Horizon 6’s player numbers on Steam–and Xbox–will continue to grow as the game rolls out to everyone. The total player numbers won’t equate to total sales, though, as many are expected to play with Game Pass.
Beyond this, Forza Horizon 6 is coming to PlayStation 5 later this year, and that’s expected to result in another surge in new players.
For more, check out GameSpot’s Forza Horizon 6 review, in which reviewer Mark Delaney said the game has the “best Forza Horizon map to date.”