Forza Horizon 6 was always going to be a guaranteed hit, but its success at launch is exceeding expectations.
The first new entry in five years launched to rave reviews, making it the highest-rated game of 2026 so far on Metacritic. After being on sale for less than a week, it’s already off to a strong start on Steam, eclipsing its predecessor’s player record.
According to SteamDB, the open-world racer peaked at 172,093 players when the Premium Edition launched on 15 May.
Since then, this number has increased to 181,775 during the launch weekend, beating Forza Horizon 5’s all-time Steam player record (81,096 according to SteamDB) by a significant margin. That means Forza Horizon 6 has more than doubled its predecessor’s Steam player record in less than a week.
What makes this achievement even more staggering is that the record only includes players who paid a premium for early access ahead of the Standard Edition launching tomorrow (19th May), showing that fans have a strong appetite to explore the Horizon Festival in Japan.
Costing £109.99 / $119.99 / €119.99, the Premium Edition gives players up to four days of early access to the game, along with other bonuses including a Car Pass and two post-launch expansions. Its player numbers will undoubtedly keep soaring when the cheaper Standard Edition launches this week, bolstered by its availability on Game Pass.
Player numbers or sales figures for the Xbox Series X|S version have not been released, while the PS5 version is set to launch later this year.
Considering that the last game sold over five million copies despite being five years old, and the PlayStation 5 is a more popular platform, Forza Horizon 6 will surely be a huge hit on Sony’s console.
For more on Forza Horizon 6, check out our review and guides on finding the Treasure Car and Barn Find locations.