Forza Horizon 6 confirmed for 2026

While it’s now not coming this year, as many had expected, and it wasn’t even unveiled during Xbox’s 2025 Games Showcase (8th June), there was one snippet confirming some Forza Horizon 6 information.

Developed by Playground Games – which has split into two teams, one for Forza Horizon and the other for the upcoming Fable reboot also due in 2026 – the next Forza series instalment was locked in for a 2026 release date by the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer.

“Looking ahead, next year marks 25 years of Xbox,” said Spencer during the keynote.

“It’s a big milestone for the platform and the franchises that you helped build and make popular.

“We couldn’t have done this without everyone who’s been with us on this journey. As we think about bringing a new generation of players to these iconic franchises, I’m excited to share that players will get to share 25 years of Xbox with a new Fable, the next Forza, Gears of War: E-Day and the return of a classic that’s been with us since the beginning.”

There, “the next Forza.” 

With Forza Motorsport released relatively recently in October 2023 and still receiving significant updates, and Horizon 5 releasing way back in November 2021 and no longer receiving monthly content drops, we fully expect the “next Forza” to be Horizon 6.

Playground has seen somewhat of an exodus of leading talent of the past two years, to startups such as Maverick Games and Lighthouse Games – the latter created by an original Playground co-founder, Gavin Raeburn. Both are making racing games.

Job listings at the Microsoft-owned outfit have long confirmed active development of another Forza driving game. With Horizon 5 played by millions, and topping the PlayStation 5 sales charts last month upon its release, Traxion will follow Horizon 6’s journey from this first, brief mention, to release.