Biggest Xbox Game Pass Game of May 2026 Now Available to Preload

Xbox Game Pass subscribers can now preload Forza Horizon 6. The open-world racing game went up for preload super early, presumably because it has one of the largest install sizes of any Xbox Game Pass title released to date.

With an estimated 40 million lifetime sales as of late 2025, the Forza Horizon franchise is among the best-selling racing series of all time. Its sixth mainline installment is thus easily the biggest first-party release that Xbox has in store for May 2026.

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Forza Horizon 6 Preload Goes Live 18 Days Early

The Forza Horizon 6 preload went live on May 1, allowing both PC and console players to download (most of) the game’s files early. An 18-day gap between the start of preloads and launch is about as long as such periods tend to get. Playground Games’ reasoning for the super early start does not appear to be much of a mystery, considering Forza Horizon 6 has an absolutely massive size, requiring 156 GB of storage space on PC and 144 GB on the Xbox Series X and Series S. Based on the current listings, the PC version of the game has no meaningful size difference between storefronts, with the same storage requirement listed on both Steam and the Microsoft Store.

Xbox Game Pass users can preload the upcoming title the same as anyone who pre-ordered Forza Horizon 6. As with other day-one releases, the open-world racing game will be available only through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, at least initially. When Microsoft launched the Standard tier of the service, now called Xbox Game Pass Premium, in September 2024, the company committed to bringing its new first-party games to the tier within 12 months of their original release. Based on that pledge, Forza Horizon 6 is likely to reach Xbox Game Pass Premium between November 2026 and May 2027. Since Premium-tier subscribers won’t be able to play it in the immediate future, they also cannot preload it.

All Currently Confirmed Xbox Game Pass Games for May 2026

Date	Game	Game Pass Tier(s)	Platform(s)	Notes
May 5	Final Fantasy 5	Ultimate, PC, Premium	Cloud, PC, Series X/S
May 12	Call of the Elder Gods	Ultimate, PC	Cloud, PC, Series X/S	Day-one release.
May 14	Subnautica 2	Ultimate, PC	Cloud, PC, Series X/S	Game preview; day-one release.
May 19	Forza Horizon 6	Ultimate, PC	Cloud, PC, Series X/S	Day-one release.
May 21	Beastro	Ultimate	Series X/S	Day-one release.
May 27	Echo Generation 2	Ultimate, PC	Cloud, PC, Series X/S	Day-one release.
May 28	Crashout Crew	Ultimate, PC	Cloud, PC, Series X/S	Day-one release.
TBA	RV There Yet?	Ultimate, PC	Cloud, PC, Series X/S	Day-one release.

Forza Horizon 6 is one of nine titles already confirmed for Xbox Game Pass in May 2026. It will be preceded by JRPG classic Final Fantasy 5, Lovecraftian adventure Call of the Elder Gods, and the early access version of underwater survival game Subnautica 2, in that order.

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As things currently stand, even more titles will likely reach Xbox Game Pass before Forza Horizon 6 does. However, Microsoft is expected to reveal those additional releases as part of the Wave 1 lineup for May 2026, which it has yet to formalize. Based on the company’s usual cadence, that announcement is most likely to arrive on May 5, though it could also happen a day earlier.