Playground Games is making good on its promise to crack down on leakers. The studio behind Forza Horizon 6 issued hardware and franchise-wide bans after the unreleased racer surfaced online days before launch, with at least one content creator receiving a penalty that stretches until December 31, 9999.
The leaked build appeared over the weekend, with 155 gigabytes of Forza Horizon 6 files discovered on SteamDB four days ahead of early access and nine days before the official May 19 release. Playground Games quickly denied that a Steam pre-load error caused the breach, but the game was soon available on piracy sites and gameplay videos began flooding YouTube and social media platforms.
One pirate who uploaded footage to YouTube using their actual Xbox gamertag learned the hard way that Playground Games meant business. That creator reported getting slapped with a hardware ban extending to the year 10,000, which represents the maximum timeframe the company can impose using four-digit year formats. It functions as a permanent ban.
The developer's enforcement efforts, however, have already hit a snag. The same content creator who received the ban posted another Forza Horizon 6 gameplay video afterward, using an alternate account and obscuring their gamertag. In the follow-up, they claimed not to be concerned about the hardware ID ban, stating they could play online freely with no real consequences.
SteamDB, the database service that initially surfaced the leaked files, distanced itself from responsibility in a statement. The platform suggested that someone with early access to the build, likely a reviewer, was the original source of the leak. SteamDB emphasized it does not display or share keys and cannot provide downloads, noting that a token dumper tool was likely used separately to surface the file list.
Playground Games and Microsoft have not explained what actually triggered the leak or whether it stemmed from an internal breach, reviewer access, or another path entirely. The publisher also has not said whether the incident will delay the launch or affect early access on May 15.
Despite the leak, Forza Horizon 6 is currently the second top-selling game by revenue on Steam and the third most-wishlisted title on the platform. The game will launch on PC and Xbox, with Xbox Game Pass access included as a Microsoft title. Playground Games continues removing leaked content from sites like Reddit, though the cat appears partly out of the bag.
Author Emily Chen: "A year-10,000 ban looks impressive on paper, but when the same leaker just fires up an alt account and keeps posting, it raises real questions about whether hardware bans alone can actually deter determined pirates."
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