Talking Point: Will You Be Buying The Early Access For Forza Motorsport?

The only reason I opted for early access for Starfield was that there was simply no way it wouldn't be spoilt for me during that week.

That simply isn't a concern for Forza

No, but I'm seriously considering to get back into gamepass for this game. You know, to check it out.

Definitely not this time.
The only one I have done before was Starfield, but was a waste of money being honest.
I was dumb enough to pay for early access through game pass.

Granted I never buy DLC, this is all just cars and cosmetics right?
The same price for Starfield's early access at least netted you an expansion as well.

The game looks beautiful, but overall just not super interested in it. I also just started playing FH5 this year, so am pretty content hopping in and out of that

They're already charging $70 for these games. Paying for early access is goofy AF.

And before someone says "durr Gamepass", that means you're paying for early access to a rental.

I would never pay for early acess for any game ever.

It's only a thing now as very few people have self control or patience anymore.

I'm really looking forward to this game, I need a good ole track racer to get into... but I can wait till the 10th.

Early access in all reality is just waste money. Game will be out in couple days - - just wait. Plus less chance dealing with server issues, bugs etc.

I enjoy Forza but its more of a game I play when I want something very simple to play - not get bogged down by Narrative, Quest lines, Maps, inventory management, Controller input options etc. With Forza, its pretty simple - just steering left or right with Accelerate/Brake and/or maybe changing gears and the 'same' objective over and over again, complete Laps and hopefully 'win' races.

As such, its not a Game that I 'need' to play earlier and/or unlikely to play more than an hour or two in any given week. I never play 'online' against real players so for me, it doesn't make sense to pay for early access - and I wouldn't 'buy' at launch at current modern prices anyway and can't say I'll even play it in the first week unless I need a 'break' from other games - the way I have always enjoyed Racing games...

I'm sure it will be an excellent and visually stunning game, but I much prefer the more Arcade racers than those going for a more Sim style experience. I can spend more time in FH5 than I can in Motorsport so I will not by buying Early access.

I did with Starfield because I felt that I would actually spend hours and hours in their game and at the time, really wanted to play it above anything else I had access to but that was the exception to my normal stance of not pre-ordering/buying games just to get the game a few days early and probably would end up wanting the DLC too.

Purchased and can't wait to get started next week.

Very much worth it for me so I can get stuck into the car levelling process and get a good selection of them ready for the multiplayer once the masses join in.

Well that and I am just excited to play what is my personal most anticipated game currently releasing on Xbox

I'll be purchasing 1 month of Gamepass to "Rent" Forza Motorsports, and then decide if I'm going to purchase or not. I can also catch up on some other games that I'm curious about, like Starfield.

This was already an easy pass as I am not big into racing games nowadays. Said so I already passed on starfield early access although I was looking forward to it. I tend to not but day one games anyways as 70€ is too much...

Nope, I’d never pay for early access. I bought the Starfield upgrade edition but only because it included a steelbook and I wanted something physical for such a game.

Definitely looking forward to Forza though!

I will wait for gamepass to see if I like it, then when price drops would buy if I liked it. I have forza 7 and enjoyed it

Nah, I'll wait. Starfield included the future DLC, Horizon included two DLC add-ons, Motorsport is just more cars. That's not a worthwhile incentive for me personally. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

I will never support early access no matter what game. I'm not a fan of this practice and I avoid it entirely.

I bought a steering wheel over the weekend so I'm getting more and more excited for Oct 10th.

Game pass is brilliant. However, the amount of stuff MS does to price gouge us is absolutely not OK. Most MS games are full of MTX and this constant 'early access price, makes the whole 'day one on Game Pass' promise a complete lie.

I'm looking forward to this title but have concerns about the always online nature of it and the amount of grind it might take to achieve any progress with your cars. Its not hard to foresee them selling 'short cuts' to upgrades once the game has bedded in to the live service game they are creating.

I hope my fears are ill founded.

This is one of my most anticipated games of the year.

But as a subscriber to Game Pass Ultimate, there is zero chance I would pay to play a few days early.

I probably will, mainly because I’m on annual leave next week when the early access version drops. By the time the standard version releases I’ll be back to (full-time) work. The early access version will give me 4 solid days with it before I go back to work.

Just calling it early access undersells the Premium upgrade. It gives you:

• The Forza Motorsport Premium Edition includes the full game with 5 DAYS EARLY ACCESS, the Race Day Car Pack, Car Pass (30 cars delivered to your game weekly, one per week), VIP Membership and Welcome Pack. 

So if you are super into this game its a nice bit of content for $30+

No.
I will not.
ridiculous character limit!

Yeah I got it awhile back. Best Buy was doing 100 dollar gift cards for 85 for members so I picked up two and preordered Forza, wrc, endless dungeon, starfield and bought marble madness and that new jet set radio game.

I thought Game Pass was supposed to include "Day 1 Access" to new Microsoft Studio games? If it's finished and ready to play then just release it.

I don't see the point in purchasing a live services game. If they want to make this game online-only they will have to deal with me not buying it, not like I will ever be able to properly own it anyways.

@PhileasFragg
It does give you Day 1 access, not Day -5

Nope. I already subscribe to Game Pass for access to first-party releases "day one". Having my access bumped back to day five if I don't pay more money isn't something I'll ever support.

@ZuneTattooGuy When the game is available to buy and play that's the release day. This isn't even "early access" to play while it's in development it's the full finished game.

Hell no. I made the mistake of buying into early access for Starfailed. I'll just wait.

@Markatron84 @PhileasFragg
You are missing the fact you get more than simply 5 day early access for the $30. You get several cars and other digital goodies. This is something for super fans of the game. I love these $30 premium upgrades because it's better than paying $100.

Too late; already bought the upgrade.

I always buy the upgrade or premium edition of 1st party Xbox games of interest. Once Xbox went to the "Play Anywhere" model for premium digital releases in their console store, I have taken the option. The dual license had been something I wanted for a decade. There is no question "if" I would buy the DLC for big titles, just "when".

The "5-days early" just sweetens the deal. There's no guarantee I will have time to play many of those days. There is the opportunity to get ahead of spoilers, though. However, in the case of Starfield, YouTubers and sites started posting reviews and info hours before the early access release. Pretty scummy to be dead set on spoiling a game and contaminating customers' impressions.

@ZuneTattooGuy I'm not missing anything. They could have put out the pack with the extra cars and stuff without making a mockery of the "play it day one on Game Pass" claim. In fact, there already are extra packs available for Forza Motorsport that don't make a mockery of the "play it day one on Game Pass" claim. You can't convince me that charging extra for early access is a good thing, because it just isn't.

I bought the Forza Horizon 5 and Starfield add ons but think I’m just going to hold off this time. Partly because I just have too many games to play already!

@PhileasFragg it’s another way of Microsoft getting money out of people, rather than just let them have it for “free” on GamePass. I’m part of the problem because I caved on Starfield, and will probably cave on Forza as well 😂

Yup! Preordered the premiuim upgrade as soon as it went up!

Yep, just copped the Premium Upgrade.

@Markatron84
It is a great thing. It gives fans who are super excited to play it as soon as possible and get other stuff for these big games an option to pay in. And not to forgo gamepass completely, but instead think of it as a $70 discount from buying the Premium edition. It will not kill you to wait 5 more days, and if you find it to be too hard to wait break out $30.

@ZuneTattooGuy ok, I'll think of it as a $70 discount on the premium edition; the edition I didn't want in the first place. Brilliant.

I have no issues with a $30 upgrade existing; I don't know why you're latching on to that idea. The point that you seen to be missing - despite my repeating it - is that being told that I can "play it day one on Game Pass" is a farce when it's not day one at all.

@Markatron84
It's not a farce, months ahead of it's Oct 10th release date they have let you know that it is coming Oct 10th. The option to pay into an early release is a good thing for anyone who doesn't want to pay more. Us who will be playing on Oct 5th will basically be stress testing the servers for the rest of you. You are getting very hung up on the Day One aspect of this and again they never said it was coming out on Oct 5th for Gamepass and then suddenly delayed it to the 10th and charged $30 for the original release date. So I see no reason for the outrage

@themightyant precisely. If Microsoft does this for all of their future games, they seriously need to change the "play it day one" advertising. "Play it day five" or something like that; actually tell it how it is.

@ZuneTattooGuy what does "play it day one on Game Pass" even mean then, if I'm not playing it on day one because I didn't pay extra to play it on the 5th? If the game is purchasable and playable on Oct 5th, that's day one. So I'm not playing it day one on the 10th, am I? I don't know what's so difficult to understand about it.

@Markatron84
If you feel that strongly about it no one is telling you to keep Gamepass. You can move on to Sony and get their "gamepass" and play their games on Day 365+

@ZuneTattooGuy how incredibly irrelevant. Why you hold the stance on this that you do is now very clear, thank you.

@Markatron84
How is it irrelevant to mention that the competitors "gamepass" service does you far dirtier and offers less of a value than making you wait 5 whole days

@Markatron84 I don't get the negative sentiment around the early access perk. It was added to premium editions and season passes to...sell premium editions and season passes. DLC is propped up by additional costumes, characters, exclusive weapons & skins, XP boosts, artbooks, soundtracks, and early access (for years now). No game charges you $35 simply to play 5 days early. If you don't want to pay for any of the bonuses, then don't.

To complain about the Game Pass slogan seems like an odd hill to die on, an ant hill, actually. To say it is inconsequential is an understatement. Each publisher sets an official release date for digital and brick & mortar stores. That is day one.

Why anyone would get so bent out of shape over 5 days or a slogan that is pretty damn accurate, I can't be sure. What relevance could that argument possibly hold? Could be some of you feel left out and somehow she the GP slogan as a taunt.

@theduckofdeath
I can completely understand if they are younger or without work, that extra $30 can feel like a slap in the face to someone really super duper looking forward to the game. But at that point maybe they should get off Xbox and find meaningful work where $30 is an impulse purchase.

@ZuneTattooGuy it's entirely irrelevant. Sit down mate.

@theduckofdeath one of the big draws of subscribing to Game Pass is getting access to first-party games on the day they're released. Now, one could argue that since Microsoft says the game is out on Oct 10th, then that is the release date and therefore "day one".

BUT if people can pay more money and play on Oct 5th, then I'm sorry but that's the release date. The release date is the date the game is playable to the general public. Not press, not through piracy or copies of the game leaking early. The release date is the day that Joe Public is able to play the game.

Ok, so what date is Joe Public able to play the game? That's correct: Oct 5th. So that is "day one" of the game being publicly available. So tell me, how is being told that I can play "day one" with Game Pass, when it is in fact not day one because it's actually five days later, not a complete sham?

I realise that I am indeed "dying on this hill", but ffs, Microsoft itself is the one keen to hammer home "day one on Game Pass" as one of the key benefits of subscribing to its service. That's on Microsoft. I didn't write that marketing, but I damn well took notice of it, which is why I subscribe.

@Markatron84
So since you want to hold marketing to their word, then how do your propose they let you play early and put it as part of a Premium offering, but allow any Gamepass player to also play Early?

@ZuneTattooGuy that's legitimately one of the most stupid things I've ever read.

How does Microsoft know that I'm allowed to play Game Pass games? I'm signed into my account and that account is subscribed to Game Pass. So all they have to do is put the game on Game Pass 5 days earlier.

I'm actually done with you. I can't argue with someone this dense.

@Markatron84
Oh no the Sonic the Hedgehog fan who can't wait five days is done with me boo hoo. I will cry about this until Oct 5th when I can play Forza 5 days early.

For those with common sense this Premium play early deal is really a great value and I love it. The Starfield one was pretty great too because you not only got early access, but you prepaid for the first story DLC.

@Titntin It includes an xp booster in the early bird package. Absolute joke mate. Which means the already glacial pace of forza mainline games will be stilted further. Whoopee.

@Markatron84 honestly bro I'm with you. No point speaking to the practice defenders, an idiot and their money are easily parted. Also its anti consumer as we have been duped.

The day 1 on gamepass soundbite is now irrelevant and a lie. As I mentioned back with starfield, it's designed for the weak willed and streamers.

These games need to take us out to dinner first. We are getting smashed before the games are even released with money tins. You're not a charity MS, in fact you are a competent company. So stop treating your customers like muppets. You need us more than we need you.

I will also note, I am a absolutely huge forza fan. I've been playing since the very first. But I will not participate in this swizz.

@themcnoisy
The past several Forza and Forza Horizon games have had premium editions with additional cars. Fans of the series, myself included, know that we want those additional cars and the fact they are throwing in 5 days early access is nice.

From my experience with the series over the years, it will release with bugs, cars that need nerfing and Dlc cars that can't compete with the stock list. So though it's a big no for me, I'm grateful for anyone who is willing to fork out for it because it will give the devs all the data they need to implement the inevitable early game patch.
Which will save me and lots of others ' early game grief '.

Cuba

@Markatron84 Let's say, hypothetically, I agreed with you about the release date — so what? Five days off little importance. It's an incentive to buy the DLC so the publisher can get more of that money upfront. If someone is buying the premium edition solely to play a few days early, well...that is their choice.

I find it hard to believe that anyone plays and follows videogames could somehow be "duped" into thinking Game Pass day-one meant a subscription grants you early access. To purport anything else is either being highly disingenuous or shows a lack of awareness. We all know damn well what "Day One in Game Pass" has always meant. No reasonable person would assume it meant "including premium early access".

The release/street date for these games is publicized; it is an absolute date while early access is relative. It could be 5 days, a week, or even two, as early as games are put in the can (go gold).

Microsoft/XBox is not going to tack early access onto Game Pass. We're already getting All 1st party games in the service (Day One 😉). The DLC packages make the delivery model less risky. The same for 3rd party releases like Wo Long. I suppose (in an unlikely scenario) the current Game Pass Ultimate could become "Game Pass Penultimate", and a new pricier GPU tier with early access and/or DLC could replace it.

Don't care about the early access. Always bought the car pass in FM & FH games. To me, they have always been good value (in case of TCM I did regret it though). Mostly buy those games later when they are €25 (and put +100 hours in).

@ZuneTattooGuy

'The past several Forza and Forza Horizon games have had premium editions with additional cars.'

Which is a terrible practice which shouldn't be advocated. The 'special' cars should be included in the main game release. We are supporting the game and being asked for more. As mentioned prior, the companies need to woo us first. This version of forza could be bad, you or I don't know until we have played it. It's at that point, further down the road, dlc or expansions should be offered.

'Fans of the series, myself included, know that we want those additional cars and the fact they are throwing in 5 days early access is nice.'

No, Microsoft realise they have a pocket of people - like you - who buy into these childish, fomo garnished, charity tin escapades.

Early access on PC is completely different to what you have bought into with the forza early access. It's usually 12-24 months before release and at a cheaper price, to accommodate everyones significant time investment playing an unfinished and unpolished game. Not more expensive for a complete game.

I will stop there in relation to forza. Im passionate about this stuff as since the advent of digital boosts, microtransactions and lootboxes. Gaming has in many ways become worse. Storefronts on the main menu, season passes in a brand new game, aesthetically customisation being ripped from the control of the player. Even whole levels taken from the main game and sold separately (assassins creed 2 way back when). If we give the big publishers and developers carte blanche to push insidious money makers into our games it doesn't stop. This pseudo 'early access' stuff is a brand new tactic. It's not a win for anyone, other than the publishers and accounts teams therein. It will only get worse, so please everyone, just think for a minute before clicking on purchase.

@theduckofdeath
Defending this scumbag practice is a new low for MS evangelists.
If Sony were engaging in the practice every single one of you would be queing up to deride them for ripping off their customers.
Unbelievable.

@Sakai what about those who are financially sound and choose to pay for early access just due to the fact we enjoy games?
I'm really not concerned over the financial cost of gaming tbh.

Someone should call Xbox out for false advertising. If you can pay for something to get it early. Then it is not a day one release on game pass.

Edit: Which is fine. If people want to pay to have it early, then good for them. But Xbox has to stop saying day one on games that have early access.

Seems crazy to me to pay extra to rent a game you're not going to own so you can play it a few days early.

Not for me but each to their own I guess.

It’s only a matter of time until every new game release starts charging for early access. I’m still playing fh5 and prefer the open world so not really bothered about this.

@Titntin
https://www.eurogamer.net/gran-turismo-7s-new-microtransactions-are-pretty-grim

Though it may not have had an early access + digital cars option, Gran Turismo 7 is riddled with expensive "micro" transactions

@Walrus_Slapper
It's crazy to me anyone buys $70 games anymore, especially if they have Xbox or PC. Gamepass is super affordable and so the $30 early access and extra cars option is a great value for those super into this upcoming game

@ZuneTattooGuy
What has that got to do with anything? Or is that simply a deflection tactic to try and say Sony had mtx once in a game, so any scumbag nickel and diming done by Microsoft is completely OK? What kind of crazy logic are you trying to use?

I will never understand people like you, who act as a corporate mouthpiece to try and whitewash any bad practice done by a trillion dollar corporation. When consumers are brainwashed into this kind of bending over, then we all lose.

I dislike mtx in any game, whether that's Sony or Nintendo or Microsoft. I especially dislike being promised one thing, then being given another. But worse of all are people who protect the rights of a corp over those of consumers through completely blind allegiance - those are the lowest.

Given that MS are just about to buy the mtx scumbag kings in Blizzard, and have confirmed they wish to raise billions in advertising (probably on our dashboards), we all better get used to this. I'm sure you'll love it and tell me its how gaming should be....sheesh.

@theduckofdeath
'early access; is pre going gold master. That's not what they are selling at all and your comments are therefore null and demonstrate a complete lack of knowledge about how games are released. If early access was allowing players to participate in Beta testing , that would be fair enough, the game would not be finished. This is a completely finished gold mastered game, not early access at all.

@Titntin I'm using "early access" literally, not as a marketing term like "Steam early access program" or "preview" or whatever they call it. Xbox is not the only publisher offering 3-5 days of...early activation (better?) or pre-release access as part of a premium pre-order package. Yes, most games go gold a month before release, so the period could be even more than 5 days.

The motivations overlap; guaranteeing sales prior to launch. Baldur's Gate or Turbo Overkill take your money (at a discount) as much as year's ahead of time. Forza, Gears, or Starfield charge you closer to the early activation date.

The way I look at it is I would have bought Forza Motosport Premium Edition if it wasn't offered on Gamepass at all. So the fact that I now get what I wanted for a discounted rate I am happy

Another "Day 5 on Gamepass"

I'm starting to get tired of microsofts gamepass antics and being treated like a chump.

@robe
Then leave, show them you are upset by not giving them your wallet.

@ZuneTattooGuy funnily enough I cancelled my renewal last week. But isn't solely driven by microsofts recent decisions, I've got a lot of games on disc that I want to play and that doesn't require a gamepass subscription.

I've got credit until February to play anything that takes my fancy, which will include Forza, Starfield etc.

@robe Day 5 on Game Pass still beats Day 365 on PS Plus, though...

@robe
Cool I'm glad for you. I find it strange that anyone who own an Xbox or PC without gamepass. It's the best deal in gaming