High-profile gaming leaks in recent times seem to have become primarily the province of Nintendo, which has appeared incapable of putting out a big-name game for the Switch 1 without it running on PC before it’s ever sold on Switch. But stand aside Mario, because Microsoft’s massive May release, Forza Horizon 6, reportedly appeared online to download and run over the weekend, nine days before its official launch.
As observed by VGC, multiple parts of the internet are reporting the news of the Forza Horizon 6 disaster, with word that the leaked version has already been cracked to run independently of Steam or Game Pass on PC. It’s claimed by users on Reddit that this occurred while uploading the game to Steam’s back-end ahead of launch, after a developer seemingly forgot to encrypt the data for Build 23118904 on May 10. It seems those capable of such shenanigans were able to intercept the build and then get it running, then released it online. Oof.
This appears to be true, given the videos that are appearing on YouTube in the last 12 hours, and no doubt Microsoft is furious. Expect to see such videos getting copyright struck throughout the day as the Xbox company attempts to control the bolted horses.
Very advanced access
There was intended to be a more legitimate way to play Forza Horizon 6 “early,” via the $100 Premium Edition that offered access four days ahead of the main launch, which rather egregiously unlocked the game on Friday 15 May, meaning the massively higher-priced version of the $70 game gave richer players a full weekend ahead of the hoi polloi. Artificially delaying the release of a fully finished game in order to milk more cash out of FOMO-averse customers is a chronically sucky thing to do, and doing it over a weekend is a new level of ick. As such, a leak like this could really hurt the strategy of trying to monetize people’s excitement to play a game ahead of release.
However, it is also unlikely to have significant material harm on Microsoft’s profits. Most people who wouldn’t pirate a game anyway wouldn’t know where to even look to download it, nor how to get it running without a launcher, and given there are rumors it’s already sold half a million copies on Steam alone, Forza Horizon 6 will still make astonishing amounts of money. Not least as it drives Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, where the Japan-set version of the massively popular franchise be available day one, and indeed with its forthcoming new-found audience over on PlayStation 5.
Pre-release leaks are far more serious than post-launch, of course, given there’s no contemporary legitimate way to be actively playing a game, but again, Microsoft has put itself in a position where moving the release forward (given the game is gold and ready) isn’t feasible or it would have to refund everyone it took advantage of with the $30 premium for four days advanced access.