Forza Horizon 5 Surpasses 15 Million Players Worldwide

It’s is well deserved a top end AAA game.
Like I always say on here it’s these top end AAA games that get your console and game pass sales and the Xbox brand and game mentioned and create good word and mouth free advertising.
This is what Xbox needs more top end AAA games like FH5. Nothing else will sell Xbox and it’s brand better than top AAA games like this, because even if you don’t like it, this is what general public take notice of.

It's crazy how big some games are. Imagine being a developer, and having your work seen by tens of millions of people. I guess that makes all the time they must have spent fine tuning that opening sequence worth the while

Well deserved, Playgroundgames is an amazing studio.. I can't wait to see what they do with Fable..

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of those 15 million players. How many came from game pass? What is the average hours played per person? Etc.

About a dozen people from my friendlist have played it and my 18 hours vastly outnumbers all of them. Most are at less than 5 hours.

I think Gamepass is going to mislead people with a lot of these "impressive user number" stats. Since there is no financial commitment for GP people, they can try it once and bounce on to another game. I dont know if that really counts as a player.

@Dezzy70 tbf these top games for xbox aren't actually helping sell the consoles that much. 15 million players have played forza horizon 5 but that's only because of gamepass, android and pc players are included in these numbers so would be way less numbers if just basing it off copies sold, hence why playstation games are only a small percentage compared to the install base as they are all copies sold physically and digitally. If sony had a similar gamepass service with day one releases then those figures would be way higher, possibly 30% off ps4 owners would of played God of war etc

This is why Sony should rethink their strategy and go full out on the subscription service like xbox. As long as its sustainable and they don't ditch physical sales in the future (for people like me 😁)

@Medic_Alert
I totally agree with your statistics that is a fact.
But exclusives AAA games sell the console at times by creating hype and good felling.

I know for a fact if HFW and GOW went exclusive to series x and good few would get a series x and probably dumped the PS5.
Why would I even need a PS5 then, just have a series x.

If not why did Sony sell so many PS4 and will do PS5
And why does switch sell, for Nintendo exclusive games.

So going by this then and last generation sales.
Xbox series will sell about 50 million
And PS5 110 million because no one will swap manufacturers as that is where their friends played last generation.

End of console sales we know the out come for this new generation already.

Microsoft have their 50 million fans and friends playing.
Sony have their 110 million fans and friends playing
Nintendo with switch 110 million fans and friends playing.

@Medic_Alert
I will tell a personal true story from this Christmas 2021.
My son has a PS5, he has a little go on my series x
FH5 mainly.
I said would you ever buy a series console?
Answer No they don’t have HFW or GOW2 coming out or at the moment any exclusives I want to play.
Ok what if Xbox had exclusive HFW and GOW2 by some weird time warp miracle?
Answer YES, I would not miss those games for anything in the world.

Give me all the statistics you want, that is a real life answer above from a young teenage gamer.

I’d love to see the breakdown of those numbers for what’s on Xbox Series’, XBOne’s and PC.

@Medic_Alert
Because my anecdotes come from real people and real conversations that I have in life.
I don’t feed them the answer they just give it and it gives a good guide to the real world not forum bubbles.
Also what I find in real live is really what the sales trend follows and the general interest in that console and game or game pass etc.
Forums just big up and excuse there favoured console manufacturer which most of the time is loyalty and never the real world.
I would get a far real answer on any console and game sales or hype from shop employees I know than on any forum because it’s real and real life.
Forums bubbles just like to side with their console of choice and if what my real life answers don’t suit that forum and loyalty then I get all sorts thrown at me.
It’s such fun 😂😂😂

@Medic_Alert
They don’t have bias they are just what I get in conversation from real life.
I have had every Xbox since day one
And Nintendo home console.
And every PlayStation.
If I have a bias right now, yes towards PS5 only because of their exclusives and because what Microsoft did after Xbox360 glory days and how they churned out a AA campaign with Halo Infinite, in my opinion only of course, when it comes to environmental package side and graphically etc, you heard that all before 😂.
Nintendo they decided to stop making new AAA games in house studios for the switch a long time ago after they released a couple in the switch early days.
Sony they are going cool at the moment, giving me my big AAA drug that I require.
And that is where I am with all three consoles at the minute.

In around the Xbox360 era it was big AAA exclusives from all three a lot of time and such an amazing exciting time with such new AAA experiences from a 3d Mario, then bang a Gears of War, then bang a God of War. It was amazing an almost non stop.

@Dezzy70 The people in my rl gamer friend group only play on Switch and PC and are uninterested in Sony's upcoming exclusive releases.

I guess, based on my real life anecdotes and discussions, Sony's upcoming releases are in trouble!

@Medic_Alert
Nintendo at times I can fall in love with, big words I know but when they released BOTW and Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and some others in the Switch early days, it was pure gaming heaven.
Luigi mansion 3 etc was a bit later on.
But those pure big Nintendo games seemed to have dried up, yes BOTW2 fingers crossed for 2022. I can’t wait. I was there with every Nintendo home console day one including the WIIU 😊.
But we could have had another new Mario 2d game or Donkey Kong 3d game by now from them.
They just seem a bit quiet with big in house studio games like the ones I mentioned above.
over the last couple of years apart from remakes pikmin, Mario 3d world etc.
An amazing true games company that if fully expanded could produce more big game magic that is so unique and wonderful.
If I had rate my whole gaming life, company wise.
Nintendo first.
Sony second.
Xbox third.
If I had to rate it over the last generation with switch and a year of the new generation including switch and knowing releases that are in the first quarter 2022 and guaranteed.
Nintendo and Sony tie
Microsoft second.

@Ralizah
Who knows time will tell, but in my opinion no.
But it’s all opinions really.

Another homerun for Playground games. Excellent win for the Xbox team.

@Dezzy70 You're missing my point.

You can't really ferret out larger trends from small friend groups. The bias of your social circle doesn't necessarily reflect what's happening more broadly in society.

@Ralizah
I don’t agree or disagree if I say I know 50 people then I go by why they say, yes it’s a very small percentage totally agree, but it gives me a little idea and what I find in the small percentage seems to tie up with console analysts sales etc. and game selling charts.
Like I know most with Switch in my small group.
Switch is selling very well, switch has about five games in the top ten UK charts.
What consoles are on shop shelf’s and slowing down in sales etc and shop stock.
It all seems to tie in with my small group percentages.
All so it’s dam easy to see what is selling.
Basically near the same as last generation in UK and Europe in the same time frame, with a very little extra on the Xbox side compared to same time last generation.
Apart from Switch was sells by the truck load at the moment in a world of its own.

Opened up Horizon 4 after not playing it for a year or so, and there were 39 wheelspins in the messages. There is also 5+ messages with 20 wheelspins each. After getting so many terrible spins(clothing awards), we stopped at the 39. So, thre are at least 100 wheelspins rotting. It's pretty funny.

Lesson here is, check the in-game messages from the Forza team if you haven't touched the game in a while. There are many gifted cars (some good) and wheelspins in there.😉

I still like Horizon series, so don't take this as me putting the game down. Love the horizon series.

Looking at the last generation data, most people play Fortnite, FIFA, Call of Duty, GTA... There are very few exclusives from Microsoft and Sony that are massive and they don't drive most console sales. Nintendo is a different thing because they basically sell hardware and accessories to play their exclusives so it's almost the opposite. Anyway, Game Pass is becoming a serious thing.

Great news, this was one of the reasons I picked up a series s in China

I noticed some bugs the first week that kept me and my friends from gaming together so I shelved the game for a while. Went in this past weekend and noticed all the problems I had have been fixed. Now I get to fully enjoy the game with friends and have the whole game to look forward to yet still. I've basically just begun.

The power of Game Pass.
If you have a quality game and it's on the service, it will get the attention it deserves due to the entry barrier now being much lower than buying a game day one with the risk you might not like it.

It's double-edged sword, this. I know people that got an Xbox with Game Pass and got into Forza Horizon just as heavily as I did with part 4, and I know people that bought an Xbox with Game Pass because of Forza Horizon 5 - and will probably plunge into other games later as well.

FH5 is great, but it's not a game I'm playing much of. I like that I can jump in every so often and there will always be something new for me to try out in it.

I do wonder with FH5. Is it popular because it is really good or because the Xbox is so starved of exclusives?

FH5 is better than 4 but not a patch on the first 3. At 8/10 game at best which is certainly fun but does lack a certain something.

@Medic_Alert in your statistics you are forgetting pre owned games. My two colleagues in work never buy new as an example, or on day one.

As for most played, games that have regular rewards and are set up as a service will sucker people in. Over say Miles Morales (which is an absolutely insane good looking and playing game). As I platted that over 10 days compared to say Rocket League which I will never finish.

@Medic_Alert 'although I accept that some will do it for economic reasons'

I think it's everyone who buys pre owned does it for economic reasons. And the business is booming. Go and check out CEX.