Forza Horizon 6 leaks early, developer responds by banning the IPs of anyone playing it for just under 8,000 years
The upcoming Forza Horizon 6 has been leaked, apparently through mistake rather than malfeasance, with a Steam upload that contained the full build of the game.
"Big shout-out to the homies at Microsoft for accidentally publishing Forza Horizon 6 on Steam early," says notorious malware website VX-Underground on X. "Microsoft corrected the issue but it was too late. Stinky internet nerds yanked it and now it's all over piracy sites. Very cool, Microsoft."
It does, indeed, appear in all the usual places: but I won't be downloading it. Both because I am pure as the driven snow (driven, get it), but also because I don't want developer Playground Games banning me from its works until checks notes December 31, year 9,999. Take it away folks:
"HAPPY FORZA WEEK...to all those with premium edition who will be joining us this week," Fan site ForzaHorizon5UK writes on X. "Standard edition players, we can't wait to see you next week!!
"To those who got a little overexcited and decided to play a few days early, we can't wait to see you on 31st December 9,999!!!"
Developer Playground Games confirmed the heavy hammer drop for people logging in early in its own message, although it said the preload process wasn't to blame: "We are aware of reports that a build of Forza Horizon 6 has been obtained prior to its release and can confirm this is not the result of a pre-load issue. We are taking strict enforcement action against any individuals found accessing this build including franchise-wide and hardware bans. We encourage fans to sit tight for the game’s release on May 19."
The weird thing is that Forza Horizon is one of those games where pirating it and having no access to the online side removes most of what makes the game great, which in my opinion would be the weekly and seasonal events that function as the endgame. Forza Horizon 6 without those… yeah, I'd rather just pay the ticket price and actually enjoy myself.
As for the leak itself, the now-yoinked build's listing can still be seen on SteamDB as a "public branch" so, yeah, it looks like someone just pressed the wrong button and uploaded the full-fat 155GB release version in a bootable state. It was just a week early.
Lest ye be tempted to download… I'd say it's not worth it, but if you fancy a 7,973 year ban then rock on. Forza Horizon 6 releases on May 19, with preorders getting early access on May 15. PCG's review will be here Thursday and I can exclusively reveal from our insider source, who will hopefully not be banned for such leakage until the year 9,999, that "it gud."
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