Forza Horizon 6 'New Zealand' Trick Is Going Viral For The Full Xbox Launch

We've known for years now that Xbox has a "New Zealand trick" that allows you to change your region and get access to loads of new games at the same time as everyone in New Zealand — a trick that's become very popular over time.

If you want to risk it, Forza Horizon 6 buyers and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members should be able to access the game starting today, and it's not a process that's difficult to set up.

Let's take a look at how the New Zealand trick works on Xbox, and all the details you need to know:

Forza Horizon 6: What Is The New Zealand Trick?

As we covered in our Forza Horizon 6 release date and times guide last week, the full launch for the game (not early access) takes place at midnight on May 18th going into May 19th, but this is the case for almost every region. New Zealand is the country that gets to play first as a result of this, which leaves everyone else feeling jealous!

The reason this trick has become so popular over the years is because it's very simple to do — you just go to the Settings menu on your Xbox, change your region to New Zealand, and then restart your console. Microsoft does technically frown upon this, as we'll mention down below, but the choice is there if you want to make use of it.

Forza Horizon 6: New Zealand Release Date & Time

Forza Horizon 6 launches in New Zealand at 5am PT / 8am ET / 1pm BST on Monday, May 18th.

This is well over 10 hours earlier than the unlock times for these regions, most of which are set for midnight on the 18th going into the 19th, aside from PT and CST which are 9pm and 11pm on the 18th respectively.

Should I Use The New Zealand Trick For Forza Horizon 6?

This is the big question, and if you're looking at it from Microsoft's perspective, they have every right to issue a warning, a ban, a region block or any other kind of punishment they see fit for accessing a game from the technically incorrect region. For that reason alone, we're never going to advise using the New Zealand trick as a rule.

There are also variables to take into account — Microsoft says that the money in your Microsoft Store account doesn't move with you when changing regions, for example (to be honest, we've never tested this ourselves), and the official Xbox Support website spells out that you should only change regions when moving to a different country.

At the same time, history tells us that not only is the New Zealand trick extremely popular amongst Xbox users (Google Trends has been full of searches for it today already!), but nobody typically gets in trouble for it. There's always a chance, but in general it seems like Xbox is pretty accepting of it — Xbox ANZ even joked about it following the release of Forza Horizon 5 in 2021. Your choice!

Of course, the safest option is just to wait for the official launch of Forza Horizon 6 in your region, which is literally just a few hours away at this point. Get it preloaded, read the Pure Xbox review, and then prepare for an exciting Tuesday!

What are your plans for Forza Horizon 6 this week? Let us know down in the comments section below.