Playground Games Acknowledges Forza Horizon 6 Leak, Bans Players Accessing the Game

Forza Horizon 6 leaked on PC earlier this week, days ahead of its official launch. A playable build of the game was made available on piracy forums, leading to some users accessing the full title. Now, developer Playground Games has acknowledged the leak and said those users will face strict consequences, including franchise and hardware bans.

Initial reports claimed that Forza Horizon 6 game files leaked via unencrypted pre-load download game data on Steam. Playground Games confirmed Monday that that was not the case.

“We are aware of reports that a build of Forza Horizon 6 has been obtained prior to its release and can confirm this is not the result of a pre-load issue,” the studio said in a statement shared on X.

“We are taking strict enforcement action against any individuals found accessing this build including franchise-wide and hardware bans. We encourage fans to sit tight for the game's release on May 19,” it added.

Before Playground's statement, several users who accessed the cracked version of Forza Horizon 6 and went online reported being served with bans. Screenshots of messages from Forza Community Team shared online showed users facing bans lasting nearly 8,000 years till the year 9999.

SteamDB Clarifies Forza Horizon 6 Leak

Following the leak, 155GB worth of leaked Forza Horizon game files reportedly appeared on SteamDB. The platform, which independently tracks game activity on Steam, has also clarified the issue and provided a likely reason behind the leak.

“Forza Horizon 6 was very likely leaked by someone with early access to the build (reviewer or similar),” SteamDB said on X, quoting Playground Games' statement. “At around the same time, the file list appeared on SteamDB because someone (could be someone else) used our token dumper. SteamDB does not display or share keys, nor can it provide downloads.”

Playground Games, on its part, has not specified the cause behind the leak.

Forza Horizon 6 PC game files leaked over the weekend and were quickly compiled into a playable build of the game. The build was made available across piracy forums, with several users posting screenshots and gameplay footage from the leaked build.

The racing title officially launches on May 19 on PC and Xbox Series S/X, but users who pre-ordered the Premium edition will get early access starting May 15.