Immediately following the launch of Forza Horizon 5, Xbox Game Studios reached its highest peak concurrent player in its history with 4.5 million players across PC, cloud, and console. According to many game reviewers and Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, Forza Horizon 5 might be the best game in the series. Sam Byford, a reviewer working at The Verge, praises the world design of Forza Horizon 5 in his game review:

“The previous game in the series, Forza Horizon 4, was personally appealing to me because of its UK setting, which I found to be a convincing rendering of where I grew up. But I found the game hard to get into because of the way it handled its open-world design, throwing an overwhelming array of cars and quests at you. Forza Horizon 5 doesn’t change the basic structure, and there’s still a huge amount of stuff dotting the Mexican map. But it does do a better job of easing you into its mountain of content. I’ve never felt like I’m wasting my time in Forza Horizon 5, as I always have more of a sense of what I could be working toward.”

Sam also praises the hugely improved lighting and stunning detail in the landscapes. Chris Scullion from VGC even says that Forza Horizon 5 is not only one of the best racing games ever made, but also one of the best games of the entire console generation. Player data proves that Sam and Chris are not the only ones to think so highly of Forza Horizon 5. Phil Spencer himself tweeted about his excitement for “largest launch day” in the history of Xbox Game Studios, saying that Forza Horizon 5 is the promise of allowing more players to play coming to life, proving that Xbox’s vision of allowing players to play across different platforms is paying off.

We’ve invested for years in Xbox so more people can play. With 4.5+ million players so far across PC, cloud & console, Forza Horizon 5 shows that promise coming to life. Largest launch day for XGS game, peak concurrent 3x FH4 high. Thank you players & congrats to @WeArePlayground

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) November 10, 2021