Forza Horizon 5 is the biggest launch in Xbox history

Forza Horizon 5 was this season's most anticipated racing game. The numbers won't be disappointing to Microsoft studios Playground Games and Turn 10.

It's been confirmed that Forza Horizon 5 is the biggest launch week in Xbox history.

Forza Horizon 5 on the Xbox Game Pass

The massive launch has been helped by the game coming to the Game Pass on day one. Microsoft's millions of subscribers are able to try the game at no extra cost. Nevertheless, over a million people played the game in advance with the Premium Edition or the Premium Addons Bundle. It's a huge achievement.

We were concerned about the Game Pass model when Forza Motorsport 7 reached end-of-life. Of course, we expect Forza Horizon 5 to be playable for Game Pass subscribers for several years to come.

Ten million players

The fifth game in the Forza Horizon series takes place in beautiful Mexico. Launching day one on the Xbox Game Pass has helped the title reach new players. A massive ten million of us have been exploring the vast map.

https://twitter.com/ForzaHorizon/status/1461503003614142469?t=qOjDBrBR5XI6N0twdeN9cA&s=19

It's not been a trouble-free launch, but with yesterday's patch release players will all be hoping that the connection issues are solved for good.

Racing Games are bigger than ever

We're advocates for the racing game genre, of course, and so it's great to see that this first major release of the Xbox Series X|S era has been a Forza title. Now, with the next Gran Turismo on its way and the anticipated release of Forza Motorsport next year, we're looking at a new golden age for racing.

Add to that the annual release of the official F1 game and also more minor releases such as CarX and other indie titles, we're glad to see cars well-represented across console and PC platforms.