Developer Playground Games has confirmed the upcoming global release times for the launch of Forza Horizon 6, both for early access and the full release. This confirmation comes following the title suffering a significant leak over the weekend, in which the game became available in its entirety for many players. Playground and Microsoft have been actively at work to patch the leak, even issuing several Pirates lifetime hardware bans, leaving many to wonder if this would alter the release schedule. As we now know, it did not.
This was confirmed via a post to social media, in which it was stated that the early access release of Forza Horizon 6 will continue as planned on May 15, though players on Xbox will have access on the evening of May 14, for West Coast players, to align with the midnight release on the East Coast. On Steam, players will begin gaining access at 12:01 AM starting in the Eastern time Zone. Playground stated this global release pattern was to align the launch with Eastern Time.
Early access is only available to players who have purchased the Premium Edition of the game. Since Forza Horizon 6 is a first-party Xbox title, it will also be available day one on Game Pass via both PC and Ultimate on the standard release date of May 19. Preloading of the game has already gone live across all platforms, starting on May 12. In addition, the game is verified for Steam Deck, as well as the Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X.
Forza Horizon 6 Global Release Times:
Xbox Early Access:
Thursday, May 14, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
- 09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
- 11:01 pm
Friday, May 15, 2026:
ET (New York):
- 00:01 am
BST (London):
- 00:01 am
CEST (Paris):
- 00:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
- 00:01 am
KST (Seoul):
- 00:01 am
AEST (Sydney):
- 00:01 am
NZST (Auckland):
- 00:01 am
Xbox Standard Global Release:
Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
- 09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
- 11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
- 00:01 am
BST (London):
- 00:01 am
CEST (Paris):
- 00:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
- 00:01 am
KST (Seoul):
- 00:01 am
AEST (Sydney):
- 00:01 am
NZST (Auckland):
- 00:01 am
Steam Early Access:
Thursday, May 14, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
- 09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
- 11:01 pm
Friday, May 15, 2026:
ET (New York):
- 00:01 am
BST (London):
- 05:01 am
CEST (Paris):
- 06:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
- 01:01 pm
KST (Seoul):
- 01:01 pm
AEST (Sydney):
- 02:01 pm
NZST (Auckland):
- 04:01 pm
Steam Standard Global Release:
Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
- 09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
- 11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
- 00:01 am
BST (London):
- 05:01 am
CEST (Paris):
- 06:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
- 01:01 pm
KST (Seoul):
- 01:01 pm
AEST (Sydney):
- 02:01 pm
NZST (Auckland):
- 04:01 pm
This is not the only title that Playground Games has arriving in 2026. After years of waiting, the studio is set to release its reboot of the popular Fable franchise in the autumn of this year.
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