Playground Games has locked in the global release schedule for Forza Horizon 6, refusing to let a major security breach derail its spring launch plans. The racing franchise will hit early access on May 15, with the full game arriving May 19 across Xbox and PC platforms.
The confirmation came after a significant leak exposed the game to piracy weeks before its intended release. Microsoft and Playground responded aggressively, handing out permanent hardware ID bans to players who accessed the stolen version. Despite the breach, the studio made no adjustments to its rollout timeline.
Early access opens to Premium edition buyers on May 15 at 12:01 am Eastern time, cascading globally from that moment. Xbox players on the west coast can jump in the evening of May 14 to align with eastern timezone windows. Preload became available May 12 on Steam, Xbox Series X and S, and the Xbox app for PC.
The full launch follows four days later on May 19, hitting Game Pass for PC and Ultimate subscribers at the same moment. A PlayStation 5 port is in development but won't arrive until later in 2026.
Playground also confirmed the game is verified to run on Steam Deck and the ASUS ROG Ally lineup, giving handheld players another option for the open-world racing experience.
Author Emily Chen: "The leak was serious enough to warrant hardware bans, but Playground's refusal to panic and stick to the release calendar sends the right message to players: this launch is happening as promised."
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