Forza Horizon 6 has “more potential” for post-launch support

Forza Horizon 5 received a plethora of live service support, with weekly playlists, evolving worlds, new cars and multiple expansion packs. For the next entry, Playground Games plans to take this approach further.

As reported by Pure Xbox, Production Director Mike Bennett revealed to IGN that ditching the Xbox One platform means that Forza Horizon 6 has “more potential” for post-launch support.

“We’ve carried forward that technology to the next game. I think we feel that was one of the best investments that we made on Horizon 5,” he told IGN, referring to Forza Horizon 5’s evolving envionments.

“And we’ve gone to some lengths to ensure that we’re able to do a bit more with that this time around, as well. Moving forward from the Xbox One generation of consoles has freed our hands a little bit there to give us some more potential.

“So yeah, we’ve learned how to celebrate key moments through the year based on the previous game, and I think we’ll definitely look forward to exploring those opportunities through the live program on Horizon 6 as well.”

Notably, this will be the first series entry to ditch the ageing Xbox One since Forza Horizon 2, with Forza Horizon 5 playable on the last-generation console at a locked 30fps.

IGN’s interview focuses on the return of changing seasons in Forza Horizon 6. This was a staple of Forza Horizon 4’s UK map, though Playground Games admits that not every player enjoyed the snow-filled winter season.

“When we think back to the lessons that we learned from the previous games, there were components of Horizon 4 that people were maybe less fond of when it came to certain seasons. And a great example of that would be winter,” said Bennett, adding that “players eventually started to grow a little bit tired of all the roads being covered in snow all the time.”

As such, snow won’t cover Japan’s asphalt roads, but will be more prominent in gravel and dirt roads. Traditional Japanese festivals will also be represented in each season, from summer kite festivals in the summer to autumn lantern festivals.

“It’s such a great vehicle to leverage to bring players back to the game week on week, because they know it’s going to feel fresh and we can plug in our seasonal events to that. It’s a lot of work, but I think we see a lot of value in it,” said Bennett.

Forza Horizon 6 will launch on 19th May for PC and Xbox Series X|S, with a PS5 release set to follow later in 2026.