Forza Horizon 6 has apparently leaked online nearly two weeks before launch, and according to multiple reports, the issue may have come from an accidental Steam upload mistake.
The situation is really completely exploding across social media right now after some people discovered that around 155 GB of game files had apparently become accessible ahead of the game’s May 19 release date.
The Full Game Build Was Accessible
According to the reports, the uploaded files included all the game assets, cars, map data, audio, and other important content files. Some people even began sharing screenshots and short gameplay clips supposedly running from the leaked build shortly after the files appeared.
As expected, the files landed pretty fast in the piracy and cracking communities, so now pirates have access to pretty much the entire game way before it even releases.
But What Happened?
So, from what we found out, it seems that Microsoft or Playground Games accidentally uploaded the preload build “without encryption.” However, some developers and players who know how this type of upload works have pushed back on that explanation, saying Steam’s systems do not normally allow completely unencrypted preload uploads in the way people describe.
Instead, the build may have accidentally been set live on the wrong Steam branch, or an encryption/decryption key may have leaked somewhere internally.
At the moment, no official explanation has been given, so it is hard to know what really happened here.
This Is Not the First Time
An interesting detail is that this is not the first big PC release to leak this way. Many players immediately compared the situation to Death Stranding 2, where preload files also became accessible before launch through a similar situation, and so that has led to some criticism toward how certain preload builds are being managed on Steam ahead of release.
As of now, neither Playground Games nor Microsoft has publicly addressed the reports, and even if leaked builds do not necessarily represent the final launch version perfectly, the situation is still a huge headache for publishers, especially for a game like this.
For now, if you want to avoid spoilers, you may want to be careful online, because gameplay clips, maps, vehicles, and other late-game content are already being shared, so just keep that in mind.
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