Playground Games and Microsoft have formally announced that 2018’s Forza Horizon 4 will be removed from all digital storefronts as of December 15, 2024, in addition to being removed from Xbox Game Pass.
This new development comes as a result of expiring licensing agreements, marking yet another instance of Forza history being partially wiped from the books.
The end of the road
Leading up to the end of its support, as of July 25, the final series for the game (Series 77) will be rolled out. This will also include the final Festival Playlist, which will conclude on August 22. After that date, the Festival Playlist screen will be inaccessible.
Support for Forza Events will continue, allowing players to complete daily and weekly challenges, along with Forzathon Live Events. The rewards for these activities will be Forzathon Points which can be used for Backstage Passes that can be exchanged for new cars. Cars that have been exclusively available as Festival Playlist rewards will now be acquired with Backstage Passes.
Seeing that the game is also playable via Xbox Game Pass and some players have gone as far as to purchase DLC for this edition, Xbox is honouring the money spent.
This will be done by means of a “game token” which will be distributed to all Forza Horizon 4 DLC owners that have an “active, full-paid (not discounted) Xbox Game Pass subscription on 6/25).”
An FAQ has been released on the matter to help players understand what will change and won’t change after the game is delisted.
Unlike The Crew’s recent delisting, Forza Horizon 4 will remain playable for everyone who continues to own a physical and digital copy of it. Digital copies can even still be redownloaded (for the time being) from the Microsoft/Xbox Store, and the game’s online servers will remain active for the foreseeable future.
On PC, Forza Horizon 4 has only ever been a digital-only release, so once it’s delisted, that version of the game will effectively be lost media. Anyone wanting to play it henceforth will need to hunt down a physical copy of the Xbox One edition.
If you want to grab this piece of soon-to-be Forza history, there will be discounts running from now until the time of the game’s delisting across the Microsoft/Xbox Store and Steam.
“All good things…”
Forza Horizon 4 has actually spent a considerable amount of time available for distribution; when it is finally delisted, it will have been on sale for just over six years. Curiously, three of those have been shared running alongside its successor.
While it’s availability will subsequently become limited, Forza Horizon 4’s legacy will still remain strong. It has a solid “92” score on Metacritic, with most feedback being extremely positive from press and players alike.
The June 2024 Xbox Games Showcase has (surprisingly) come and gone without any mention of a new Forza Horizon entry. Some former devs of Playground have broken off in recent years to form a new studio that’s producing its own AAA open-world racing game that will likely be a direct competitor to the Forza Horizon series.
In the meantime, Forza Horizon 5 is still trucking along with regular updates and new content drops of all sorts, so there’s still fuel left in the tank for the Horizon series overall. Still, its inability to stay as a whole makes enjoying the full extent of its legacy quite the challenge.
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