Forza Horizon 6 Hits 172,000+ Steam Players Before Full Launch
Forza Horizon 6 is not even fully out yet, but the starting grid is already packed.
The game officially launches on May 19, but players who picked up the $119.99 Premium Edition were able to jump in early from May 15. Based on Steam numbers, a lot of them did exactly that. Within around seven hours of advanced access going live, Forza Horizon 6 reportedly climbed past 172,000 peak concurrent players on Steam.
That is a seriously strong start for an open-world racer, especially one still locked behind a premium early-access edition. For Malaysian and SEA players, the key takeaway is simple: this launch is looking massive, and the online side should be lively from day one.
Steam numbers are only part of the picture
The 172,000-plus figure only covers Steam, so it does not show the full player base. Forza is still a major Microsoft franchise, meaning some PC players will be on the Microsoft Store, while console players will be racing on Xbox Series machines.
So yes, the real launch-week peak is almost certainly higher than what Steam alone shows. We just do not know exactly how much higher.
Still, Steam is useful because it gives us a public snapshot of demand. And right now, that snapshot looks very healthy. Forza Horizon 6 also reached second place on Steam’s official Top Sellers chart, sitting behind Subnautica 2, which had its own big launch just a day earlier.
That is not bad company to be in.
Already ahead of Forza Horizon 5’s Steam peak
The wild part is how Forza Horizon 6 compares to the previous game. According to the reported numbers, Horizon 6 has already beaten Forza Horizon 5’s highest Steam concurrent player count by more than double.
Forza Horizon 5’s all-time Steam peak was 81,096 concurrent players. By the end of its second month, its peak daily numbers had dropped to roughly 15,000.
That does not mean Horizon 6 will automatically have better long-term retention. Launch hype and long-term staying power are two very different things. Racing games can explode early, then settle fast once casual players finish the main events and move on.
But starting this far ahead gives Forza Horizon 6 a very strong runway.
Why Malaysia and SEA players should care
Forza has always been one of the easiest racing games to recommend here because it is flashy, accessible, and fun even if you are not a hardcore sim-racing kaki. You can tune cars, cruise around, race with friends, or just vibe with the open world after work or class.
A big player count matters because it means matchmaking should feel healthier, community activity should move faster, and content creators will likely jump in quickly with car builds, money routes, graphics settings, and performance guides.
For SEA players especially, that early buzz can make a difference. If your squad is deciding whether to buy early or wait for the standard launch, these numbers suggest the game is not launching quietly. People are already inside, already racing, and already pushing it up the charts.
The only caveat: advanced access is tied to the pricey Premium Edition. At $119.99, that is not exactly impulse-buy territory for many Malaysian gamers once currency conversion and platform pricing come into play. So the bigger test will be May 19, when the full launch opens the doors wider.
For now, though, Forza Horizon 6 is off to a proper hot start. The leak before launch clearly did not kill interest. If anything, players still showed up in force.
Source: TechPowerUp
