Forza Horizon 6 is currently being heavily review-bombed on Steam, mostly by players using Simplified Chinese. The game has a “Mixed” overall rating due to around 6,800 negative Chinese-language reviews, while reviews in other languages are mostly “Very Positive” or even “Overwhelmingly Positive.” Chinese players are mainly upset for two reasons: > The game is set in Japan, which is a sensitive topic because of long-running historical and political tensions between China and Japan. > The Simplified Chinese translation is reportedly very poor. Players say even basic words like “left,” “right,” and “yes” are translated incorrectly. Another reason this situation became so visible is how Steam works in China. Because of the Great Firewall, many Chinese players cannot easily access official forums or communicate directly with developers. Similar review-bombing campaigns have happened with other games before.

Forza Horizon 6 is off to a huge launch. According to analyst firm Alinea Analytics, the game sold an estimated 4.9 million copies in its first week and generated more than $325 million in gross revenue, despite being available day one on Xbox Game Pass. >Around 2.8 million copies were sold on Steam. >Roughly 2.1 million copies were sold across Xbox console, PC, and cloud. >More than 3 million additional players accessed the game through Game Pass instead of buying it outright. Analyst Rhys Elliott says Game Pass likely reduced direct sales because many players who otherwise might have purchased the game simply played it through their subscription. The service helped push total player counts above 6 million almost immediately. Premium Edition upgrades and early-access purchases were strong, with about 1.7 million players buying into early access.

Forza Horizon 6 reached a peak of 273,148 players on Steam right after launch, and this is more than three times the record of Forza Horizon 5, which had 81096 players at its highest. The game has no Denuvo DRM and is well optimized for PC, so it runs smoothly with good frame rates on many computers. It also works on Steam Deck and supports DLSS. This launch proves that good optimization and no DRM DENUVO help games sell well.

Forza Horizon 6 is now the highest-rated game of 2026 on Metacritic with a score of 92 This open-world racing game from Playground Games beats other big releases this year like Pokémon Pokopia and Resident Evil Requiem, which both scored 89. Critics love the Japanese setting, from the busy streets of Tokyo to beautiful views around Mount Fuji. The full game comes out on May 19

Forza Horizon 6 has generated more than $140 million in revenue from its Premium Edition during the early access Premium Edition buyers gained four days of early access ahead of the full launch on May 19, 2026 Analytics estimates from player tracking data indicate around 1.2 million Premium Edition users were active shortly after launch. At the typical $120 price point, this translates to roughly $144 million in gross revenue from that tier alone. On Steam, the title has seen peak concurrent player counts exceeding 172,000, more than double the all-time high for Forza Horizon 5.

Forza Horizon 6 has broken records right out of the gate on Steam. During its early access period, available only through the Premium Edition priced at about $120, the game reached an all-time peak of 172,093 concurrent players. This more than doubles the previous record set by Forza Horizon 5. The full version launches on May 19 and will be available day one on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Forza Horizon 6’s install sizes have been revealed from the Xbox store listings and they are doing the mene >144.84 GB on Xbox Series X/S >156.65 GB on PC. Developers forgot how to optimize their games, vibecoding. The open-world racer is set to launch May 19, 2026 on Xbox Series X/S and PC.

In Forza Horizon 6, players keep running into an extremely aggressive AI driver called Bowie Knife99. The Drivatar is known for constantly smashing into other cars, causing huge crashes and ruining races for everyone else. Even though many players find it frustrating, Bowie Knife99 has turned into a popular meme in the community and is now seen as the game’s most infamous villain.

In Forza Horizon 6, an in-game radio host on the Japan map makes a humorous reference while players explore. He says, “Grab your camera and snap ’em all!” One then immediately jokes, “It’s like that Japanese collecting game we’re not allowed to name for legal reasons.” It’s a clear reference to Pokémon’s famous “Gotta catch ’em all” slogan and Nintendo’s well-known reputation for strictly protecting its intellectual property.