Forza Horizon 6 has been leaked ahead of its release. Playground Games is threatening players who accessed the leak with severe consequences; one YouTuber has apparently been banned until the year 9999.
Forza Horizon 6 was actually supposed to launch on Friday: Those who purchased the Premium Edition for 120 euros can start playing as early as May 15. But some players apparently didn’t even want to wait those few days: A leaked version of the open-world racing game has already hit the internet before its release.
For Playground Games, this is obviously a disaster:The studio has since confirmed the leak and immediately issued a clear warning: Anyone who accesses this version can expect franchise-wide bans and even hardware bans.
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 againstany individuals found accessing this build including franchise-wide and…
— Playground Games (@WeArePlayground) May 11, 2026
A YouTuber immediately received the maximum penalty
A YouTuber named DVS Squad, who had uploaded about 45 minutes of gameplay from the leaked version, is said to have been hit particularly hard. As a result, his account was suspended until December 31, 9999. That’s roughly 8,000 years.
https://www.global-esports.news/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/The-YouTuber-shared-this-screenshot-after-his-account-suspension.jpg
The crucial mistake: The player is said to have uploaded the video with his gamertag visible. This meant Playground Games and Microsoft didn’t have to play detective for long.
Even those who don’t upload anything shouldn’t feel safe
There is currently a heated discussion in the Forza community about who these measures might actually affect. Moderators in the Forza subredditexplained that they had received confirmation from Playground Games that not only video uploaders could be affected.& According to this, even those who have merely launched the leaked or cracked version are said to risk permanent bans.
However, there is debate in the comments about how feasible this is technically:
- Apparently, different crack versions are circulating: Some users mention that early versions still required a connection to a Microsoft account, while later variants are said to work with an “offline fix.”
- Illegal versions are also said to have existed for Forza Horizon 5. According to several community comments, players were even able to drive online with cracked versions back then without being banned en masse.
- The big difference: These versions only came out after release, and by then there are millions of legitimate players online anyway. Before release, the situation is different. Anyone who connects to Forza Horizon 6 now using their Microsoft account stands out much more. So the data could already be sitting on the servers.
- A delayed wave of bans is also conceivable:If Microsoft plays it smart, they won’t ban affected accounts immediately, but only after launch—that is, exactly when some players who wanted to use the leak as a “demo” might already feel safe.
The safe option is therefore quite simple:Stay away from the leak! Not only because it’s illegal, but also because, in the worst-case scenario, you stand to lose more than just having to wait a few days impatiently.
Where did the leak allegedly come from?
Initially, speculation circulated that Forza Horizon 6 had become accessible too early due to a faulty Steam preload. However, Playground Games explicitly denies this: The leak wasnotthe result of a preload issue.
Another explanation comes from SteamDB:According to this, Forza Horizon 6 was very likely leaked by someone who already had early access to the build—such as a gaming journalist or content creator.
Forza Horizon 6 was very likely leaked by someone with early access to the build (reviewer or similar).
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… https://t.co/Pd40wmlzV2
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) May 11, 2026
At the same time, the file list appeared on SteamDB because someone used the site’s so-called “token dumper.” A token dumper is a tool that allows SteamDB to see which Steam data has already been unlocked for a specific account.
So if someone with early access already had Forza Horizon 6 in their library and used this tool, certain metadata could become visible—such as app IDs, depots, or file lists.
However, this does not automatically publish the actual game files. In other words: Based on this information, SteamDB would not be the source of the download, but at most the place where certain technical details became visible. It has not yet been officially confirmed who actually distributed the build afterward.
