Forza Horizon 5 has now been available for two weeks. Players across the world have had the opportunity to explore the beautiful Mexico setting, unlock some of the over 500 available vehicles, and win and lose in dozens of unique races. Forza Horizon 5 is a massive game designed to appeal to all manner of racing game fans, and the design has paid off. Playground Games has now confirmed that Forza Horizon 5 had "the biggest first week in Xbox history."
Playground even provided Xbox fans with a number, lending some perspective to what "biggest first week in Xbox history" really means. According to the announcement, more than 10 million players played Forza Horizon 5 during its first week of availability. Just for comparison's sake, Forza Horizon 4 was announced to have reached 2 million players in one week. It did reach 10 million players eventually, 8 months after launch. Forza Horizon 4's 10 million players was the most-played game of the Xbox One generation.
A second achievement, impressive on its own but also expected given the franchise's overall popularity, puts Forza Horizon 5 at the top of Xbox Game Pass releases, too. Forza Horizon 5 had the biggest launch week for any Xbox Game Pass release in the subscription service's history. These two records, the most-played Xbox Game Pass release and most-played overall Xbox release, are likely to be joined at the hip going forward.
The role of Xbox Game Pass in Forza Horizon 5's launch success can't be understated. After all, the announcement was that Forza Horizon 5 has 10 million players, not 10 million copies sold. It's impossible to predict how many copies of Forza Horizon 5 Xbox would have sold if it wasn't on Xbox Game Pass at launch, but it doesn't really matter anymore, either. Going forward, Xbox's priority is getting as many people to play its games as possible, whether that's through full game purchases or via Xbox Game Pass.
It's difficult to imagine Forza Horizon 5 being dethroned of its position by any other game at this point, though anything's possible. Halo's popularity has waned to a degree, but the live service nature of Halo Infinite could certainly boost it to previously unrealized success. Then there's Starfield in 2022, Bethesda's next major single-player RPG. Skyrim sold 30 million copies, after all.
For the time being, however, Forza Horizon 5 reigns supreme as Xbox's most-successful launch ever. Now Playground just has to retain those players, which it's striving to do with its weekly seasonal content and upcoming Fractures feature. Xbox Game Pass availability makes that easier to do, as well. Playground and Xbox should definitely take a moment to celebrate such an impressive achievement, too.
Forza Horizon 5 is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.