As we stand, only a week away from the launch of Forza Horizon 6, the most hyped racing game in years, the entire set of game files has been leaked online.
And what’s even more surprising is the fact that it’s likely Microsoft itself that is at fault this time. The company reportedly uploaded the full, unencrypted PC build of the game to Steam, effectively handing it to pirates on a silver platter.
Not a partial build or a demo, but the entire game. All 155 GBs of it got leaked as a result of this catastrophic blunder by Microsoft and Playground Games.
Unsurprisingly enough, a number of players have already started playing Forza Horizon 6 after downloading the leaked files, with some even showing the audacity to stream the gameplay live on Twitch.
How Did Forza Horizon 6 Get Leaked?
The massive Forza Horizon 6 leak on Steam seems to be the result of human error that happened when publishing the preload files on the platform, but the exact cause still remains unclear.
For the uninitiated, Steam allows publishers to push preload files on the platform ahead of launch, encrypted builds that players can download but not run until release day. Playground Games pushed their preload files ahead of time, but skipped the encryption part.
SteamDB, which tracks every Steam update in real time, flagged the anomaly almost immediately. Within hours, piracy forums exploded, and the CrackWatch subreddit was posting instructions.
Note that Forza Horizon 6 ships without Denuvo or any heavy-duty DRM, so once the files were out, cracking them required almost no effort. The game reportedly runs offline from the pirated build, but trying to log into Xbox’s online services will get you banned instantly.
This is not the first time something like this has happened, either. Last year, GOTY contender Death Stranding 2 suffered a similar unencrypted preload disaster. The industry keeps making the same mistakes.
Luckily, despite this pre-launch disaster, FH6 still holds its head up high at number two on the Steam Top Sellers charts, just behind Counter-Strike 2, and the game’s not even out yet.
Forza Horizon 6 is officially scheduled to launch on May 19, 2026, for the Xbox Series X|S and PC. Players who buy the Premium Edition will be able to play the game four days early. So if you’re looking to get a head start over your competition on the streets of Japan, be sure to check out our guide on how to play Forza Horizon 6 early.
