{"id":1930986,"date":"2026-05-12T11:40:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1930986"},"modified":"2026-05-12T11:40:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:40:25","slug":"forza-horizon-6-dev-bans-pirate-who-leaked-gameplay-footage-until-the-year-10000-but-faces-uphill-battle-plugging-the-leak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1930986","title":{"rendered":"Forza Horizon 6 Dev Bans Pirate Who Leaked Gameplay Footage Until the Year 10,000 \u2014 but Faces Uphill Battle Plugging the Leak"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Forza Horizon 6<\/a> developer Playground Games is following through on its threat after the game was leaked online ahead of the official release date, with one pirate reporting a hardware ban until the year 10,000.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Overnight, the Microsoft-owned studio threatened to ban anyone it found had accessed the leaked build of Forza Horizon 6<\/a>, while denying it emerged as a result of a Steam pre-load issue.<\/p>\n

“We are aware of reports that a build of Forza Horizon 6 has been obtained prior to its release and can confirm this is not the result of a pre-load issue,” Playground said in its statement. “We are taking strict enforcement action against any individuals found accessing this build including franchise-wide and hardware bans. We encourage fans to sit tight for the game\u2019s release on May 19.”<\/p>\n

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The reports first emerged over the weekend, when 155 gigabytes of Forza Horizon 6 files were spotted on SteamDB four days ahead of early access and nine days before full launch. This suggested the files were made available unencrypted on Steam proper, potentially from a pre-load error.<\/p>\n

While Playground denied this was the cause, Forza Horizon 6 was made available to download from piracy websites, and it didn\u2019t take long for gameplay footage to emerge across YouTube and social media. One person who published gameplay footage to their YouTube account, complete with their Xbox gamertag, reported receiving a hardware ban until December 31, 9999 \u2014 the max timeframe a ban can be offered using four digit years. That\u2019s an effective lifetime ban for the pirate.<\/p>\n

Playground faces an uphill battle plugging the leak, although it is taking down threads on the likes of Reddit. Remarkably, the pirate in question has followed up with yet another Forza Horizon 6 gameplay video, insisting: \u201cI\u2019m not worried about it at all.\u201d Using an alt account \u2014 and with their gamertag blurred from view this time \u2014 the pirate appears able to play Forza Horizon 6 freely. \u201cI\u2019m not worried about a hardware ID ban,\u201d they said. \u201cI\u2019m free to play online as much as I want, and there\u2019s nothing they can do to really stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n