Zero reviews. Zero players. $69.99. Number one.

Forza Horizon 6 doesn’t launch until May 19, but it’s already perched at the top of Steam’s Top Sellers chart — ahead of free-to-play revenue machines like Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS that dominate the platform through sheer volume of microtransactions. This isn’t a game climbing the ranks on word of mouth. Nobody has word of mouth yet.

Hypertext reports that Forza Horizon 6 ranked eighth on Steam’s weekly Top Sellers chart for the period of April 7 to 14, climbing 19 positions in a single week. That was before the preview embargo lifted and before the full map reveal went public. On April 13, the day the official achievement list dropped, the game sold 22,000 copies on Steam — the highest single-day pre-sale total since the initial 50,000 when pre-orders first went live, according to Notebookcheck. It has since climbed from eighth to first.

According to data from Rhys Elliot of Alinea Analytics reported by Notebookcheck, Forza Horizon 6 has already sold over 500,000 copies on Steam, generating approximately $30 million in revenue. The game holds 3.3 million wishlists on the platform. It is already the best-selling Forza title in franchise history, and it hasn’t released.

The Setting Fans Wanted Since the Xbox 360

Part of the explanation is simple: Japan. Players have been asking for a Forza Horizon game set in Japan since the Xbox 360 era. Playground Games finally built it — their largest open world yet, wrapping mountain passes, neon-soaked Tokyo districts, and the real-world Daikoku car meet culture into one map. The car list leans hard into JDM heritage, with vintage icons like the R33 Nissan Skyline and the 1997 Toyota Chaser alongside 550-plus vehicles at launch.

The setting lands where players live. Alinea Analytics reports that nearly 7% of Forza Horizon 6’s Steam wishlists come from Japan — well above the country’s typical Steam share. Rumours about the Japanese setting had been circulating since 2023. By the time Playground confirmed it at Tokyo Game Show in September 2025, the wishlists were already piling up.

The Pricing Play

The base edition costs $69.99. Full AAA freight. Want four days of early access? That’s the $120 Premium Edition, or a $60 “Premium Upgrade” tacked onto a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. The $100 Deluxe tier pointedly does not include early access — a structure Alinea Analytics describes as a textbook decoy effect, funnelling high-intent buyers toward the most expensive bracket.

Forza Horizon 5’s premium tier was $100. The Game Pass upgrade was $50. Playground and Xbox have raised both by roughly 20% between entries, testing the price ceiling of their most dedicated audience to offset rising development costs and Game Pass cannibalisation. On the final day of Forza Horizon 5’s early access window, over a million people had paid for the privilege. The expectation is that even more will.

Faith, Track Record, and the Pre-Order Problem

And that’s the tension sitting underneath this chart-topping pre-order run. No one has reviewed Forza Horizon 6. The Steam page shows 0% positive from 0 reviews — technically the worst score possible and completely meaningless at the same time. The only metric that matters right now is the revenue figure.

Players are buying on faith in a studio that has earned it. Playground Games has shipped consecutive critically acclaimed Forza Horizon titles. Forza Horizon 5 drew 10 million players in its first week across all platforms. The franchise has generated hundreds of millions on Steam alone — FH5 cleared $290 million in four years according to Alinea Analytics, and the PS5 version topped $300 million in under a year despite selling fewer copies, thanks to deeper Steam discounting over time.

But pre-order dominance before anyone can vouch for quality is the same mechanism that has burned players repeatedly — from high-profile launch disasters to whatever live-service implosion is due next. The difference here is track record. Playground has one. Most studios making bets this large don’t.

Launch Day and Beyond

Forza Horizon 6 launches May 19 on PC and Xbox Series X|S, with Premium Edition early access opening May 15. A PS5 version follows later in 2026 — a delay Alinea Analytics suggests may leave money on the table, particularly in Japan where PlayStation dominates.

Alinea projects the game could sell over 2 million units on Steam within its first 24 hours. If that projection holds, it won’t just top the charts. It’ll make the current number one look like a warm-up lap.

Eight days out. Zero reviews. Number one on Steam.

Sources