Forza Motorsport, the latest installment in the long-running racing game franchise, may be coming later in 2023 than previously announced, if a new rumor is to be believed. Forza Motorsport has been pushed as one of the big Xbox Series X games for the first half of 2023, and as far as anyone knows, the plan is still to launch it at some point within the next five months or so. However, that's looking increasingly unlikely.

Forza Motorsport was one of the titles featured at the Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct presentation. Other games at the event received specific release dates, with Microsoft confirming exactly when fans would get to play the next Elder Scrolls Online expansion, co-op vampire shooter Redfall, strategy game Minecraft Legends, and brand-new action game Hi-Fi Rush, which was actually shadow dropped the same day as the event. Forza Motorsport, however, ended its presentation with a vague 2023 release window.

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Industry insider Jeff Grubb has suggested that this is because the Forza Motorsport release date is being pushed out of the first half of 2023. "It does seem that Forza is going to slip later into the year. It probably won't be the first half of the year," Grubb said during a recent episode of his Game Mess podcast. Grubb said that he's been "hearing" this information, and he feels "pretty good" about it. It goes without saying that fans should take this information with a grain of salt, but Grubb has a proven track record and the fact that the event didn't give Forza Motorsport a release window does support the idea that the game is being delayed.

Forza Motorsport 2023 Maple Valley

While Forza Motorsport fans weren't treated to a release date at the Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct event, they did get a fresh look at the racing game. It was revealed that Forza Motorsport will have over 500 cars at launch, as well as a variety of new and returning tracks. The game is clearly trying to take full advantage of the Xbox Series X hardware, delivering top-of-the-line graphics. Whether it will live up to the high bar set by its predecessors remains to be seen, however.

Forza Motorsport is not the only major first-party Xbox game planned for 2023 without a release date. Bethesda's Starfield doesn't have a release date yet either, and it was completely absent from the Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct. Like Forza Motorsport, Starfield is expected to drop in the first half of 2023, but there have been rumblings that its release date may be getting pushed back as well. Regardless, Xbox fans should still have a stacked 2023 ahead of them.

Forza Motorsport is in development for PC and Xbox Series X.

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Source: Pure Xbox