Playground Games has issued a warning to players not to access a leaked Forza Horizon 6 build after it surfaced through an alleged Steam preload issue.
In a statement posted on X, the studio said the leak was, in fact, not caused by a preload issue, and that it is taking action against anyone found accessing the build.
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.
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.
This is a direct warning to anyone accessing the leaked build. A franchise-wide ban would affect player access across all Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport entries, while a hardware ban would target the device itself rather than only an account. This means even if a player who was detected accessing the leaked build makes a new Microsoft account, the Hardware ID will trigger a ban on the new account as well.
While Playground did state that this was not a preload issue, the company did not explain how the build was obtained, how many users accessed it, or whether the leaked version came from a specific storefront or partner.
SteamDB also weighed in on the situation. The company stated that Forza Horizon 6 was highly likely to have been leaked by someone with early access to the build, such as a reviewer or an influencer. SteamDB said the file list appeared around the same time because someone used its token dumper.
Playground Games hasn’t disclosed the tools they will use to detect the players who accessed the unauthorized build.
Forza Horizon 6 launches properly on May 19, with Premium Edition early access beginning May 15. The game will be available on Xbox Series S|X and PC through the Xbox App and Steam. The PlayStation 5 version is coming later this year.
