Forza Horizon 5 has pulled off the biggest launch day in Xbox Games Studios history, according to Xbox director Phil Spencer.
In addition to being received Tuesday by enthusiastic critics, the racing simulation developed by Playground Studios has already accumulated 4.5 million players on PC, consoles and cloud devices. This total is good for tripling the maximum number of simultaneous players of its predecessor, Forza Horizon 4, and a new record for Xbox Games Studios.
We’ve invested years in Xbox so more people can play. With more than 4.5 million players to date on PC, cloud and console, Forza Horizon 5 shows that that promise is coming to life. Biggest launch day for XGS game, simultaneous peak 3x FH4 high. Thanks to the players and congratulations to @WeArePlayground
– Phil Spencer (@ XboxP3) November 10, 2021
Many of those players are likely connecting through Xbox Game Pass, where Forza Horizon 5 was available on the first day of its commercial launch. It’s not clear exactly how many players jump this way, but it will be interesting to see how many stay long enough to pay for something and generate income, rather than bounce back to the next free-to-play game.
One thing we do know is that over a million players started playing through Early Access which they won by purchasing the $ 99 Premium Edition or the $ 50 Premium Expansions Pack for Game Pass subscribers.
“We’ve invested years in Xbox so more people can play,” Spencer wrote on Twitter. The success of Forza Horizon 5 “shows that this promise comes to life,” he continued, before thanking players and congratulating Playground Studios.
