Forza Horizon 5 has reached a major milestone just a day after general release. The open world game has been played by 5 million people already! But it hasn't all been smooth sailing through this release. Will this hotfix make the difference?
Largest ever Xbox Game Studios launch
Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed via Twitter what we had suspected. Forza Horizon 5, being on the Game Pass, has reached more players on day one than any previous Xbox Game Studios launch.
https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/1458269032986013706
Players have had mixed feelings about the launch though. It's been evident playing the game that servers have struggled to keep up with the massive demand. With the total number of players surpassing 5 million today, the previous server-side fix for multiplayer doesn't seem to have done the trick.
Problems with the game from launch
Wheel players, particularly on PC, have been frustrated to find that their hardware repeatedly disconnected from the game. It's not ideal if you've splashed out on expensive force-feedback gear but it won't work with the latest game. Forza Horizon 5 is generally considered to be more of a controller-focused game. But pre-release the Playground Games team did mention upgrades to the wheel experience!
Everyone playing Forza Horizon 5 is also aware of the server connection problems. Maybe the developers just weren't ready for the launch to be this huge. Whatever the reason, we'd been anticipating a further fix and today came confirmation of that.
New hotfix incoming
An in-game message today informed us that a further fix is on its way. The Forza community team have confirmed that the future fix will adress multiple issues including game crashes, wheel problems, and connection issues.
We really hope that this does solve the problems players have been suffering. As more players jump into the Mexico map and start exploring the festival, it would be great to see an end to the regular "You have been disconnected from the session" notifications.