What you need to know
- Developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios, Forza Horizon 4 first launched in 2018 to critical acclaim and commercial success.
- Like previous Forza games, Forza Horizon 4 is reaching end of life status, which means the game will be removed from digital stores and Xbox Game Pass on December 15, 2024.
- Anyone who purchases a digital or physical copy of Forza Horizon 4 will be able to continue playing the game after it has been deleted.
- Forza Horizon 4 is now available for purchase for Windows PC players via Steam. The Xbox Store sale starts on July 14, 2024.
A phenomenal game is leaving stores later this year.
Forza Horizon 4 will be removed from the Xbox Store and Steam on December 14, 2024, after which it will also be removed from Xbox Game Pass, Playground Games and Xbox Shared on Tuesday. As with previous Forza games that have been axed, this is due to licensing agreements with various partners whose support was necessary for the game, regarding musical tracks and specific cars that were included.
Anyone who purchased Forza Horizon 4 (digital or physical) can continue to play the game after it is deleted. Several discounts will be available leading up to the game’s removal, giving players the chance to purchase Forza Horizon 4 at a heavily discounted price before the game is no longer available. A Steam sale is currently active, while an Xbox sale will be available on July 14, 2024.
Additionally, anyone who played Forza Horizon 4 through Xbox Game Pass and purchased some DLC and is still subscribed to the service as of today will receive a game code via their Xbox Messages in the coming weeks.
Can you still play Forza Horizon 4 multiplayer?
Yes, Forza Horizon 4 will still be playable online and with full multiplayer functionality after the cancellation. While it’s possible that the game servers will eventually be shut down, that won’t be the case for a while.
However, it’s important to note that Series 77, which starts on July 25, will be the final festival playlist. Once it ends on August 22, there will no longer be a festival playlist. This means that Series 77 is your last chance to achieve the following achievements: A creature of habit, Stunt puller, Cashing inAnd Perfectionist.
Forza Horizon is one of the biggest brands for Xbox
Originally built by Playground Games as a spin-off of the Forza Motorsport franchise, Forza Horizon quickly grew as a juggernaut for Xbox, with Playground Games and Turn 10 collaborating on the ForzaTech engine to power both franchises. This engine will also be used for the Fable reboot, which is being developed by a second studio at Playground Games and is expected to launch in 2025.
Every Forza Horizon game has been critically praised with incredible regularity and fidelity, with Forza Horizon 4 reaching 24 million players in November 2020. The successor, Forza Horizon 5, was launched in 2021 and has reached more than 34 million players in just a few months. counts that Forza Horizon is one of the biggest Xbox brands.
Forza Horizon 5 is a much more recently released game and is still available for purchase, and is also available in Xbox Game Pass.
Analysis: A titan goes to sleep
Forza Horizon 4 is a fantastic game, one of my favorites of 2018. While it’s certainly a little sad to see that it will finally be delisted, this is nothing new when it comes to Forza games due to the licensing deals that in these titles. Fortunately, players are well aware of when the game will no longer be available, so if anyone hasn’t purchased it yet, now is the time to make sure you can keep it forever.
In our review of Forza Horizon 4, my colleague Richard Devine wrote: “As it stands, Forza Horizon 4 is the best racing game you can get on Xbox One. As always, it doesn’t try to be a simulator, but combines Real world vehicles, not entirely arcade physics and a big open playground full of entertainment is hard to beat.”