Forza Horizon 6 nears 5 million sales in its first week despite Game Pass launch

Forza Horizon 6 is already shaping up to be one of Xbox’s biggest releases of 2026. According to a new report from Alinea Analytics, Playground Games’ latest open world racer is nearing an estimated 5 million copies sold in its first week, with gross revenue estimated at around $325 million.

That result is especially notable because Forza Horizon 6 launched directly into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Subscription availability can reduce full game sales because many players choose to access the game through their membership instead of buying it outright. Even with that pressure, the game appears to have sold strongly across both Steam and Xbox.

Steam led sales, but Xbox still delivered a major share of purchases

Alinea Analytics estimates that Steam accounted for around 2.8 million copies sold, while Xbox accounted for about 2.1 million copies. That means Xbox represented roughly 42 percent of paid sales, which is a strong result for a game also available through Game Pass. The report also estimates that more than 3 million additional players tried Forza Horizon 6 through Game Pass Ultimate.

Playground Games had already announced that Forza Horizon 6 passed 6 million players overall, and the new sales estimate gives a clearer picture of how that audience may be split between direct purchases and subscription access.

The Japan setting seems to have helped the game build strong early momentum. Forza Horizon fans had asked for Japan for years, and Playground’s take on the location appears to have landed well with both players and critics. The game currently holds a 91 score on Metacritic, continuing the series’ reputation as one of Xbox’s most reliable first party franchises.

Wccftech’s review also gave the game full marks, praising the new map as the best in series history and calling the game a polished result of everything Playground has learned across previous entries. That kind of reception matters because racing games can sometimes struggle to break beyond their core audience, but Forza Horizon has remained one of the few racing franchises with broad mainstream appeal.

The sales numbers also show that Game Pass does not automatically erase paid purchases. It likely reduced some sales, but Forza Horizon 6 still managed a strong first week because many players bought it on Steam, bought it on Xbox, or paid for early access through premium editions. This makes the game a useful example of how Xbox’s hybrid model can work when the title is strong enough.

The success also puts more attention on Playground Games’ next major release, Fable. The studio recently repeated that Fable is still planned for 2026, and new ratings have suggested that it may arrive before Grand Theft Auto 6 in late 2026. If Playground can deliver another hit after Forza Horizon 6, it would make 2026 a defining year for the studio and a much needed win for Xbox’s first party lineup.

For now, Forza Horizon 6 looks like a clear commercial and critical success. Even with Game Pass affecting some direct sales, the game has generated strong revenue, pulled in millions of players, and reinforced Forza Horizon as one of Microsoft’s most dependable franchises.