Forza Horizon 6 Dev Bans Pirate Who Leaked Gameplay Footage Until the Year 10,000 — but Faces Uphill Battle Plugging the Leak

Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground Games is following through on its threat after the game was leaked online ahead of the official release date, with one pirate reporting a hardware ban until the year 10,000.

Overnight, the Microsoft-owned studio threatened to ban anyone it found had accessed the leaked build of Forza Horizon 6, while denying it emerged as a result of a Steam pre-load issue.

“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,” Playground said in its statement. “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.”

The reports first emerged over the weekend, when 155 gigabytes of Forza Horizon 6 files were spotted on SteamDB four days ahead of early access and nine days before full launch. This suggested the files were made available unencrypted on Steam proper, potentially from a pre-load error.

While Playground denied this was the cause, Forza Horizon 6 was made available to download from piracy websites, and it didn’t take long for gameplay footage to emerge across YouTube and social media. One person who published gameplay footage to their YouTube account, complete with their Xbox gamertag, reported receiving a hardware ban until December 31, 9999 — the max timeframe a ban can be offered using four digit years. That’s an effective lifetime ban for the pirate.

Playground faces an uphill battle plugging the leak, although it is taking down threads on the likes of Reddit. Remarkably, the pirate in question has followed up with yet another Forza Horizon 6 gameplay video, insisting: “I’m not worried about it at all.” Using an alt account — and with their gamertag blurred from view this time — the pirate appears able to play Forza Horizon 6 freely. “I’m not worried about a hardware ID ban,” they said. “I’m free to play online as much as I want, and there’s nothing they can do to really stop it.”

Meanwhile, SteamDB itself has issued a statement distancing itself from the leak, suggesting someone with early access to the build was responsible. Neither Playground Games nor Microsoft have explained what actually happened here.

“Forza Horizon 6 was very likely leaked by someone with early access to the build (reviewer or similar),” SteamDB said. “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.”

Forza Horizon 6 is set to launch across PC and Xbox and, as a Microsoft game, straight into Game Pass, but Steam is expected to be a significant driver of sales. Currently, Forza Horizon 6 is the second top-selling game by revenue on Valve’s platform (you can prepurchase it now). That suggests that despite this leak, it will enjoy significant success. It’s the third most-wishlisted game on Steam, too.

Microsoft has yet to say exactly when Forza Horizon 6 will officially unlock and become playable, or if this leak will affect the game’s launch plans. Its general release date is May 19, but early access starts four days early, from May 15.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.