Playground Studios' Forza Horizon 5 has taken the crown of being the biggest release ever for an Xbox Game Studios title. The racer launched in full yesterday following the Premium Edition early access period, and total player counts have already clocked in at over 4.5 million.
The information comes straight from Xbox head Phil Spencer, who tweeted the impressive number was achieved across PC, Xbox consoles, and cloud gaming fronts. The new entry's peak concurrent player count had also tripled that of Forza Horizon 4 from 2018.
Unfortunately, no details were shared on the player split between each platform or how many of the 4.5 million are from Game Pass subscriptions, where the game arrived day one. According to in-game charts, Forza Horizon 5 had over a million players in-game during the $100 Premium Edition (or $50 Upgrade) early access launch. Over on Steam, the peak player count has already breached 70,000, which is sure to go up as the weekend approaches and server issues are squashed.
Forza Horizon 5 has been immensely well-received by critics. Neowin's own Asher Madan gave the open-world racer a 9.5 verdict, adding, "Playgrounds Games is a master of the genre at this point and the latest entry in the acclaimed franchise is one of the best racing games out there."
The game is now available on PC (via Steam and the Microsoft Store), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, as well as Xbox Cloud Gaming. Xbox Game Pass subscribers also have access to the full experience for no extra charge. Playground Games is also working on implementing an on-screen sign language interpreter for cutscenes, which should arrive soon.
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