Forza Horizon 6 is launching next week on PC and Xbox Series X|S, complete with transformative ray-tracing features, but a fully playable build of the game leaked online ahead of release (something that likely made IO Interactive skip pre-loading of the highly anticipated 007 First Light on PC and Xbox). With the latest entry in the series being one of the biggest titles published by Xbox this year, the publisher is dealing with the situation in the harshest way possible, hitting users playing the leaked build with what essentially is a lifetime hardware ban.
As widely reported in now-deleted threads on the series' official subreddit, early players are being suspended for "cheating/unallowed modding," which was to be expected. The suspension that is getting handed out, however, is the harshest possible, as the unbanning date is December 31, 9999 - nearly 8,000 years from now.
Making this Forza Horizon 6 ban the harshest possible is the fact that it's a Hardware ID (HWID) ban, meaning a simple Windows reinstall won't reinstate the banned Xbox account on the banned system. "It definitely isn't just about Windows reinstall. FH places HWID bans, so cheaters have to rely on HWID spoofers or physically change hardware. HWID spoofers also usually aren't reliable 100% or frequently aren't even safe, because, as it is usually, hackers don't do such things just to help someone but they usually pair it with some malware, keylogger and so on to get some data from you," explained Reddit user HatWithoutBand. As such, the account can only be recovered by changing the motherboard of the banned system, which won't be a cheap endeavor for systems capable of running the game with Extreme RT amidst the soaring prices of PC hardware.
With Microsoft and Playground Games rightly handing out the harshest bans possible, it is most definitely not a good idea to check out Forza Horizon 6 before launch, even if you have already pre-ordered the game. Thankfully, the game will be available to all in just a few short days, starting on May 19, so legit players won't have to wait much longer to race through the streets of Japan in what is setting up to be one of the best racing games of the current console generation and celebrate what could be an incredible year for the studio if it indeed releases Fable in 2026.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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