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Forza Horizon 5 will be officially coming to PlayStation 5. The announcement marks a major shift in Xbox’s long-term strategy, as the company seemingly moves away from hardware and instead leans further into publishing and software.
Microsoft has announced that Forza Horizon 5, a major Xbox exclusive, will be launching on PlayStation 5 sometime this spring.
The racing game series has long been a staple of the Xbox brand and is considered to be a significant system seller, alongside both the sci-fi franchise Halo and cover shooter Gears Of War.
There are also rumours that a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved and a port of the Master Chief Collection could be coming to both PlayStation 5 and the Switch 2 this year.
The PlayStation 5 version of Forza Horizon 5 will be overseen by American studio Panic Button, who have already worked on ports of previous titles in the series. The original developer Playground Games is currently working on a reboot of the Fable franchise.
Why is this such a big deal in the gaming industry?
Many younger Gen Z gamers may not be aware of the fierce competition between Microsoft and Sony that dominated the industry during the noughties.
Both companies fought hard to have the most popular hardcore gaming console of that era, with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 offering top-tier exclusives and new online features that revolutionised the market and helped shape it into what it is today.
It was the beginning of widespread online multiplayer, large voice group chats, high-definition graphics and big budget, narrative experiences. If you were into gaming at the time you were likely only a loyalist for one company and system. There was no cross play, no sharing of intellectual properties and certainly no sense of industry comradery.
Microsoft giving up one of its biggest console sellers and allowing multi-platform accessibility is an indication that it has conceded defeated in the race for hardware sales.
For anyone who lived through that hyper-competitive noughties era, Forza Horizon’s move to PlayStation is as a watershed moment, a reminder that the industry has changed significantly since the Xbox 360 days of old.
What does this mean for the future of Xbox?
While this is a big deal, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following gaming news the past few years.
It’s no secret that Microsoft has struggled to push units of its latest consoles, the Series X and S, compared to the runaway success of the PlayStation 5. Where Sony has invested in lengthy, high-budget exclusives like Spider-Man, The Last of Us, God of War, and so on, Microsoft has largely fumbled its supposed system sellers.
The first-person shooter exclusive Redfall was a disaster straight out of the gate in 2023, leading to the closure of its developer Arkane Austin. Similarly, Halo: Infinite launched a year later than originally planned and lacked many vital features, with subsequent staff layoffs and an eventual restructuring of its developer 343 Studios.
Even when Xbox surprise-released a well-received title, Hi-Fi Rush in 2023, it’s developer Tango Gameworks was still inevitably shut down.
Where Microsoft has seen success, however, is in its Game Pass initiative. In February 2024, Xbox reported that it had over 34 million paying subscribers, with a wider reach of 120 million monthly active users.
Its most recent marketing campaign has emphasised the idea that ‘anything’ can be an Xbox, even your phone. Couple this with the recent, eye-wateringly expensive purchase of both Bethesda and Activision and its clear that the company now wants to pivot toward being a dominant publisher first and foremost.
