Microsoft, Turn 10 Studios and Playground Games are officially unleashing the likes of the Forza franchise onto PlayStation hardware, with the surprise announcement of Forza Horizon 5 coming to PS5 this Spring.
The news comes just days after Xbox Head of Gaming, Phil Spencer, revealed his team’s newfound commitment to sharing the Xbox library of games across more platforms.
Start your engines
Forza Horizon 5‘s arrival on PS5 marks the first time a Forza game has ever come to the rival side. Since its inception, Forza has stood as Xbox’s answer to Sony’s renowned Gran Turismo franchise. Clearly, this competition is more or less over.
Where the competition will now lay is among the racers, as PS5 players will soon join the ranks of Xbox and PC owners who’ve been playing Forza Horizon 5 since 2021. Nonetheless, this port, handled by the talented team at Panic Button, will have full feature-parity with the other versions.
The game’s two big expansions, Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure, and previously released Car Packs will be made available for purchase at a later date.
The entire roster of 900+ vehicles and large open-world rendition of Mexico will be at the ready for PS5 players to enjoy, alongside all the community-built tracks and events that have been released throughout Forza Horizon 5’s life thus far.
Curiously, in the spirit of community-driven content, the devs have teased an all-new mode dubbed Horizon Realms which “will give players the chance to explore a curated collection of some of the community’s favourite previously released Evolving Worlds, alongside some other surprises.”
While that description is purposefully vague, it does seem to indicate the return of fan-favourite Horizon Playlists (which last for four in-game seasons; one real-world month.) This should allow PS5 players, in particular, to benefit from reliving past events that they otherwise would’ve missed out on.
Forza Horizon 5 just got its final all-new Festival Playlist mere days ago with the arrival of the Midnight Muscle update. From now on, players will vote between two prior Festival Playlists to return to the game during the following month. It’ll be interesting to see just how Horizon Realms will fit into everything, along with what its “surprises” will be.
Spring into action
As mentioned before, Forza Horizon 5 will formally arrive on PS5 this Spring. An exact release date has not yet been revealed. PS5 players can wishlist the game right now via the PlayStation Store and be notified of when that release date is finally unveiled.
Of course, this massive announcement begs the question, or rather, two—When is Forza Motorsport also going to make the jump to PlayStation? And, can PC and Xbox players ever expect to enjoy Gran Turismo on their platforms? Time will surely tell.
Check out more of the latest news:
Contraband Police announces Crimson Fall DLC | Date Everything! will no longer launch on Valentine’s Day |
