Forza Horizon 5 had Xbox Game Studios' biggest ever launch day, 3x more concurrent players...

[midian182]

What just happened? Pretty much everyone was expecting Forza Horizon 5 to be one of the biggest titles of the year, so this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise: head of Xbox Phil Spencer has revealed that the driving game had the “largest launch day” in Xbox Game Studios’ history.

Signs that Forza Horizon 5 would be a massive hit came in the run-up to its release. The game’s leaderboard showed almost one million people (it eventually reached over 1.2 million) had bought the $99 Premium Edition or $45 Premium Add-Ons Bundle, granting them access ahead of the official November 9 arrival date. VGC estimates that Forza Horizon 5 would have made between $54 million and $118 million before its full launch, based on these figures.

Spencer confirmed Forza Horizon 5’s popularity on Twitter. He wrote that over 4.5 million players are driving around a virtual Mexico across the PC, could, and console platforms, making it the largest ever launch day for an Xbox Game Studios title.

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

Additionally, Spencer revealed that Forza Horizon 5’s peak concurrent player count has hit three times that of predecessor Forza Horizon 4, one of the biggest games of 2018.

Forza Horizon 5 has been a hit with both critics and players. IGN awarded it a coveted 10/10 score, PC Gamer gave 90%, and it is OpenCritic’s highest-rated game (92) released this year so far. On Metacritic, meanwhile, it has an average score of 91, making it the joint-top release of 2021. It’s also the number one best-selling game globally on Steam and is available on Xbox Game Pass/Game Pass for PC.

In other Forza Horizon 5 news, we recently heard that a post-launch update for the game would add sign language interpreters. There are also reports of players buying up hundreds of cheap 1940s Willy Jeeps and spending points on its upgrade tree to unlock a Super Wheelspin, lootbox-style rewards that offer cash payouts and rare vehicles.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/92161-forza-horizon-5-had-biggest-launch-xbox-game.html

 

[Yenega]

Give me Scalebound and Fable Legends instead, thanks.

I'm glad MS is buying more studious because Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon and Gears of War only, gets boring really fast.

I look forward to Awoved.

 

[Kosmoz]

This just confirms how hungry for new good AAA games Xbots are, even though Forza is not something new as an IP.

They have been fed promises and wishes and dreams for so many years, this is actually the 1st big game for XSX since launch (I know it's cross gen), of course it will sell very well.

In the mean time Sony had so many this year, I lost count. Next will be Halo Infinite, so basically Xbox has 2 new (old IP) games to show off in 1 year, because everything else is not worth mentioning.

Still waiting on MS to impress me with a new IP that can rival Sony's 1st party Studios.

P.S. And now that Sony will bring more and more exclusives to PC, I will probably not gonna buy a PS5, so it's not even a case of console fanboism, but a case of games and how good they are, Sony vs MS. Still Sony is miles ahead...

 

[Yenega]

This just confirms how hungry for new good AAA games Xbots are, even though Forza is not something new as an IP.

They have been fed promises and wishes and dreams for so many years, this is actually the 1st big game for XSX since launch (I know it's cross gen), of course it will sell very well.

In the mean time Sony had so many this year, I lost count. Next will be Halo Infinite, so basically Xbox has 2 new (old IP) games to show off in 1 year, because everything else is not worth mentioning.

Still waiting on MS to impress me with a new IP that can rival Sony's 1st party Studios.

P.S. And now that Sony will bring more and more exclusives to PC, I will probably not gonna buy a PS5, so it's not even a case of console fanboism, but a case of games and how good they are, Sony vs MS. Still Sony is miles ahead...

Don't forget Xbox Series S which is dirt cheap and really popular because availablity is much better. Still does 60 fps at 1080p in Forza Horizon 5 in perf mode.

Game Pass means alot of people will be playing on release. How long will they keep playing it, is the true question.

It's not like PS5 had much anyway. Demons Souls remake is the only one that interrests me slightly. HZD2 is going to be the biggest game release for PS5 and it's still 3 months away.

I might pick up a PS5 in a few years when Slim comes out, unless they release the games for PC like they have been doing lately.

 

[AMN3S1AC]

This just confirms how hungry for new good AAA games Xbots are, even though Forza is not something new as an IP.

They have been fed promises and wishes and dreams for so many years, this is actually the 1st big game for XSX since launch (I know it's cross gen), of course it will sell very well.

In the mean time Sony had so many this year, I lost count. Next will be Halo Infinite, so basically Xbox has 2 new (old IP) games to show off in 1 year, because everything else is not worth mentioning.

Still waiting on MS to impress me with a new IP that can rival Sony's 1st party Studios.

P.S. And now that Sony will bring more and more exclusives to PC, I will probably not gonna buy a PS5, so it's not even a case of console fanboism, but a case of games and how good they are, Sony vs MS. Still Sony is miles ahead...

How many 1st party PS5 exclusives have we seen in 2021?

 

[Yenega]

How many 1st party PS5 exclusives have we seen in 2021?

Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, Returnal and Demon's Souls I think?

Buying consoles on release always is like this. This time it might even be worse than ever, because of no stock. It's been 1 year since release of PS5 and XSX and they are still not possible to buy + prices are 50-100% higher than MSRP.

Sony knows that the majority of game sales are still on PS4, not PS5.
120 million vs 13.5 million units?

Alot of people don't even want a PS5 because it's too big. They are waiting for a Slim. Others are waiting for a beefed up version, PS5 Pro.

 

[Achaios]

Wait, I thought that best thing to ever happen to mankind was Steampunk and there were ppl here who bought 5 GPUs to play it.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Don't forget Xbox Series S which is dirt cheap and really popular because availablity is much better.

I'm not convinced it is that popular. I mean PS5 has been outselling Xbox Series consoles nearly 2:1 at the moment. Microsoft do not release figures of the split between Series S and Series X. I have to assume that Series X is the prime mover here and most desirable. However even if it as much as 50:50 due to shortages then only 1/4 of the machines being sold as 'next gen' are Series S sales. E.g if we say 14m PS5 sales, 8m Series sales, making 4m of them Series S.

A minority in the big picture. It can't be a particularly big number for Series S sales. Even if we assume the Series S is the prime mover then that probably isn't the best thing ever for advancing next gen software.

Reason being Series S has a bunch of game versions in the first year that already had key features ripped out you might consider next gen (e.g ray tracing) or run much lower resolutions, and even take away high framerate modes. The second problem is the storage is incredibly small, expansion is very expensive, and versions are apparently not coming in much smaller at all despite not needing 4K textures.

For example, Horizon 5 is still over 100GB on Series S same as Series X. That's a hell of a lot for a single game when the machine only has 364GB free to start with. Microsoft apparently haven't bothered to do what they themselves claimed developers would do, and concentrate on reducing file size for Series S!

To me Series S has the look of a machine with a very short shelf life as developers start to concentrate on the true next gen machines properly.

 

[Yenega]

I'm not convinced it is that popular. I mean PS5 has been outselling Xbox Series consoles nearly 2:1 at the moment. Microsoft do not release figures of the split between Series S and Series X. I have to assume that Series X is the prime mover here and most desirable. However even if it as much as 50:50 due to shortages then only 1/4 of the machines being sold as 'next gen' are Series S sales. E.g if we say 14m PS5 sales, 8m Series sales, making 4m of them Series S.

A minority in the big picture. It can't be a particularly big number for Series S sales. Even if we assume the Series S is the prime mover then that probably isn't the best thing ever for advancing next gen software.

Reason being Series S has a bunch of game versions in the first year that already had key features ripped out you might consider next gen (e.g ray tracing) or run much lower resolutions, and even take away high framerate modes. The second problem is the storage is incredibly small, expansion is very expensive, and versions are apparently not coming in much smaller at all despite not needing 4K textures.

For example, Horizon 5 is still over 100GB on Series S same as Series X. That's a hell of a lot for a single game when the machine only has 364GB free to start with. Microsoft apparently haven't bothered to do what they themselves claimed developers would do, and concentrate on reducing file size for Series S!

To me Series S has the look of a machine with a very short shelf life as developers start to concentrate on the true next gen machines properly.

If you read reviews of Series S it's being recommended alot. 1/3 the price of Series X and have same CPU, only target resolution is lower. For people with a 1080p TV still, X is pointless. Most people will probably never notice the difference between the two, unless they are sitting close to a 4K/UHD TV maybe. XSS have performance mode in most games AFAIK, because CPU is the limiting factor when it comes to fps and it's identical between S and X. GPU is the limiting factor for resolution.

Ray tracing is pointless and a gimmick on these weak consoles. AMD GPUs can't do ray tracing without a huge perf hit anyway. Ray tracing on consoles = 15-30 fps.

Savings mostly come from the smaller SSD and no 4K bluray drive. Some people don't care. Series S is aimed at Game Pass subs, most games on this pass is 1-50GB and most people will be playing 1-2 games at once.

I'm not into either. If I had to choose I would pick a PS5 without thinking twice, but I will wait for Slim or Pro and games before I might buy one.

If I did not have a gaming PC, Xbox might be more interresting than PS5 but Xbox games come to PC anyway and I don't need one.

 

[Vulcanproject]

If you read reviews of Series S it's being recommended alot. 1/3 the price of Series X and have same CPU, only target resolution is lower. For people with a 1080p TV still, X is pointless. Most people will probably never notice the difference between the two, unless they are sitting close to a 4K/UHD TV maybe. XSS have performance mode in most games AFAIK, because CPU is the limiting factor when it comes to fps and it's identical between S and X. GPU is the limiting factor for resolution.

Ray tracing is pointless and a gimmick on these weak consoles. AMD GPUs can't do ray tracing without a huge perf hit anyway. Ray tracing on consoles = 15-30 fps.

Savings mostly come from the smaller SSD and no 4K bluray drive. Some people don't care. Series S is aimed at Game Pass subs, most games on this pass is 1-50GB and most people will be playing 1-2 games at once.

I'm not into either. If I had to choose I would pick a PS5 without thinking twice, but I will wait for Slim or Pro and games before I might buy one.

If I did not have a gaming PC, Xbox might be more interresting than PS5 but Xbox games come to PC anyway and I don't need one.

Depends on the reviews. I see stuff like this and find it hard to disagree.

It's $300 and Series X is $500, so that's 3/5 the price, not 1/3 the price.

Only delivering one quarter the resolution, sometimes with ray tracing torn out and even sometimes at lower framerates. Latest one Guardians of the Galaxy that does not support 60FPS on Series S. Then there is the major issue of having less than half the available storage space. That isn't an equation that adds up to me, even if you only use it for game pass as a second machine.

 

[Yenega]

Depends on the reviews. I see stuff like this and find it hard to disagree.

It's $300 and Series X is $500, so that's 3/5 the price, not 1/3 the price.

Only delivering one quarter the resolution, sometimes with ray tracing torn out and even sometimes at lower framerates. Latest one Guardians of the Galaxy that does not support 60FPS on Series S. Then there is the major issue of having less than half the available storage space. That isn't an equation that adds up to me, even if you only use it for game pass as a second machine.

Here in Germany the Series X is exactly 175% more expensive. Almost 1/3.

And this? https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/xbox-series-s

There's tons of possive reviews (yes actual reviews not articles about how it will age).

You seem to forget that Xbox Series X is not in stock most places and/or is overpriced.

I suspect Microsoft is not telling split between S and X for this exact reason. I would not be surprised if S has up to half of their sales.

It's small and cheap yet delivers what 99% of casual gamers need.

It beats One X which console fans called a beast only a few years ago. Mostly because One X had a terrible CPU and forced delelopers to settle for 20-30 fps and/or limit AI and draw distance.

Xbox Series S won't hold developers back AT ALL. It has the same CPU power as Xbox Series X and PS5. It only have a lower target resolution, which is why GPU is weaker and slightly lower memory.

Xbox Series S holds 60 fps in perf mode in Forza Horizon 5. Looks pretty much identical to X version.

Resolution alone is not what makes a great gaming experience. Performance is. If 99% of games will have 60 fps on the S, I'd personally not pay triple the price for X. However we don't know yet.

And I don't even want one.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Here in Germany the Series X is exactly 175% more expensive. Almost 1/3.

And this? https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/xbox-series-s

There's tons of possive reviews (yes actual reviews not articles about how it will age).

You seem to forget that Xbox Series X is not in stock most places and/or is overpriced.

I suspect Microsoft is not telling split between S and X for this exact reason. I would not be surprised if S has up to half of their sales.

It's small and cheap yet delivers what 99% of casual gamers need.

It beats One X which console fans called a beast only a few years ago. Mostly because One X had a terrible CPU and forced delelopers to settle for 20-30 fps and/or limit AI and draw distance.

Xbox Series S won't hold developers back AT ALL. It has the same CPU power as Xbox Series X and PS5. It only have a lower target resolution, which is why GPU is weaker and slightly lower memory.

Xbox Series S holds 60 fps in perf mode in Forza Horizon 5. Looks pretty much identical to X version.

Resolution alone is not what makes a great gaming experience. Performance is. If 99% of games will have 60 fps on the S, I'd personally not pay triple the price for X. However we don't know yet.

We can review bomb each other to oblivion, but there are plenty more that feel the same way I do. https://www.digitaltrends.com/game-reviews/xbox-series-s-reivew/ and https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/xbox-series-s

Lets not try and list the entire set of reviews for the machine that take either side- acknowledge there is definitely more than one viewpoint out there and it isn't so positive for Series S.

To me it is clear the machine is not very good value when you do the maths, others apparently feel the same way. People on a tight budget have their own viewpoint and I respect that.

In either case I don't like that the games are being cut down so much for it. Or that developers apparently are not always doing what Microsoft promised they would, I.e framerate parity or file size reduction. This is not a good sign for now, let alone the future.

Digital Foundry pointed out that One X actually did better than the Series S in the 30FPS mode on Horizon 5 that they recommended. None of this impressed me considering the price is still 3/5 that of the full tamali machine.

Cheap does not mean you're getting good value- it's not the same thing. In terms of the Series S, the compromises are very steep regardless of what you're doing with it.

 

[Kosmoz]

The problem with Series S is that it's already outdated and behind the curve, so in 2 years time when XSX and PS5 will be old and we will have Pro versions, the series S will look really really bad.... like PS4 and XB One looks now, (almost) that bad.

I'm glad I upgraded my PC instead of getting a PS5 this year, so far no regrets, even though PS has all the games that I cannot play and want now, because I pretty much played all I wanted and was available on PC already.

But I can wait, I'm exercising patience and it's worth it. I know GoW will look better on my PC than on a PS5 and so will other PS exclusives that will come. HZD and Days Gone already proved that to me.

P.S. Technically these are all the PS exclusives this year:

• Astro’s Playroom
• Deathloop
• Demon’s Souls
• Destruction AllStars
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Returnal
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure

 

[dangh]

The problem with Series S is that it's already outdated and behind the curve, so in 2 years time when XSX and PS5 will be old and we will have Pro versions, the series S will look really really bad.... like PS4 and XB One looks now, (almost) that bad.

I'm glad I upgraded my PC instead of getting a PS5 this year, so far no regrets, even though PS has all the games that I cannot play and want now, because I pretty much played all I wanted and was available on PC already.

But I can wait, I'm exercising patience and it's worth it. I know GoW will look better on my PC than on a PS5 and so will other PS exclusives that will come. HZD and Days Gone already proved that to me.

P.S. Technically these are all the PS exclusives this year:

• Astro’s Playroom
• Deathloop
• Demon’s Souls
• Destruction AllStars
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Returnal
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Can't wait for ghost of tsushima... Love it on ps5, on pc it will be unreal for my eyes.
As for now there is nothing yet convincing me to get xbox. Forza od nice, but if I get it, I'll get it on steam.

 

[Yenega]

Depends on the reviews. I see stuff like this and find it hard to disagree.

It's $300 and Series X is $500, so that's 3/5 the price, not 1/3 the price.

Only delivering one quarter the resolution, sometimes with ray tracing torn out and even sometimes at lower framerates. Latest one Guardians of the Galaxy that does not support 60FPS on Series S. Then there is the major issue of having less than half the available storage space. That isn't an equation that adds up to me, even if you only use it for game pass as a second machine.

Sony Estimated to Have Sold Twice as Many PS5 Consoles as Xbox Series Globally; XSS Allegedly Outsold XSX Across Several Key Markets

Recent industry data estimates that Sony has told twice as many PlayStation 5 consoles as Microsoft has sold Xbox Series X|S consoles.

wccftech.com

XSS outsold XSX in several markets Here in Germany, the XSS is almost 1/3 of the price and tons of people seem to buy that over XSX.

PS5 sold 100% better in general.

This looks to be just like One X, which sold less than 10% of total Xbox One sales. XSX is the new One X and very few wants to pay a premium it seems.

Always remember that most console players are casual gamers. 75% at least.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Sony Estimated to Have Sold Twice as Many PS5 Consoles as Xbox Series Globally; XSS Allegedly Outsold XSX Across Several Key Markets

Recent industry data estimates that Sony has told twice as many PlayStation 5 consoles as Microsoft has sold Xbox Series X|S consoles.

wccftech.com

XSS outsold XSX in several markets

And PS5 sold 100% better in general.

Without an actual number breakdown unfortunately we can't know what the split is. 'Key markets' could easily be something like Brazil which is a huge overall market, where in Latin America cheaper consoles do very well.

I have heard the Series S has sold well there, however generally in Brazil and other similar places the most common consoles around are a generation behind due to cost.

For example while Europe, Japan and the U.S were swimming in Playstation hardware by the year 2000, the Sega Master System and Genesis still dominated. So reality is, without hard breakdown data these claims don't mean a lot and less so in a worldwide sales context.

 

[Yenega]

Without an actual number breakdown unfortunately we can't know what the split is. 'Key markets' could easily be something like Brazil which is a huge overall market, where in Latin America cheaper consoles do very well.

I have heard the Series S has sold well there, however generally in Brazil and other similar places the most common consoles around are a generation behind due to cost.

For example while Europe, Japan and the U.S were swimming in Playstation hardware by the year 2000, the Sega Master System and Genesis still dominated. So reality is, without hard breakdown data these claims don't mean a lot and less so in a worldwide sales context.

Microsoft don't want to talk about Xbox sales numbers for a reason. They stopped telling us when PS4 obliterated Xbox One

 

[Vulcanproject]

This looks to be just like One X, which sold less than 10% of total Xbox One sales. XSX is the new One X and very few wants to pay a premium it seems.

Always remember that most console players are casual gamers. 75% at least.

Microsoft don't want to talk about Xbox sales numbers for a reason. They stopped telling us when PS4 obliterated Xbox One

Better numbers are needed to back up this notional pipedream Series S is 80 percent of Series console sales worldwide. Maybe in Brazil or something for sure, but unlikely outside of that.

Then even if it was the case Series S has better than a 50/50 split worldwide, a massive factor in any of these numbers could largely be pinned down to the difficulty in getting hold of a Series X. Forever out of stock. You suspect Microsoft actually make money on a Series S versus the X and are limiting production on Series X at the moment. Certainly I am.

Any sort of sales split heavily in favour of Series S is a disaster for the future of next gen Xbox software. Luckily PS5 is starting to dominate and should be the benchmark of hardware again.

Also please don't equate One X market share with Series X, it's a baffling leap of logic and a terrible comparison. One X was an expensive console launched four years after the original in 2017, to a largely uninterested market as Xbox One was already toast. Not simultaneously with Xbox One.

 

[Yenega]

Better numbers are needed to back up this notional pipedream Series S is 80 percent of Series console sales worldwide. Maybe in Brazil or something for sure, but unlikely outside of that.

Then even if it was the case Series S has better than a 50/50 split worldwide, a massive factor in any of these numbers could largely be pinned down to the difficulty in getting hold of a Series X. Forever out of stock. You suspect Microsoft actually make money on a Series S versus the X and are limiting production on Series X at the moment. Certainly I am.

Any sort of sales split heavily in favour of Series S is a disaster for the future of next gen Xbox software. Luckily PS5 is starting to dominate and should be the benchmark of hardware again.

Also please don't equate One X market share with Series X, it's a baffling leap of logic and a terrible comparison. One X was an expensive console launched four years after the original in 2017, to a largely uninterested market as Xbox One was already toast. Not simultaneously with Xbox One.

Considering XSX has been out of stock most places and the steep price increase compared to S, I see it very possible that S outsold X.

I doubt they are making money on S directly, however if they sub to Game Pass then they will hopefully make money long term. The console is dirt cheap in most countries.

Seems to repeat last gen pattern;

PS4 Pro had weaker specs but sold much better than One X, mostly because of exclusives. However One X launched 1 year later (which was stupid by MS considering the generation was way past midcycle at the point)

PS5 once again have weaker specs but already outsold Xbox Series X (This name is too stupid) by 100%

Microsoft buying up more game studios might change this going forward. Especially if TES6 only comes to Xbox (and PC) - Starbound too. I will be playing both on PC tho - For me, as a PC gamer, I like Playstation way more than Xbox because of the exclusive and just *different* game selection than PC (like Switch have).

Xbox have nothing I don't have on PC. It seems a good solution for people with NO PC however most PC games would be better off with a PS5 over XSX.

Some console owners just buy both. I find console gaming boring tho, I like to be able to customize and mod my games. I also like to not pay a huge premium for most games, because MS and Sony needs a big cut.

For people buying BOTH consoles and also gets Game Pass + PS Plus it's not a cheap gaming solution by any means. I see consoles as a money sink mostly. They almost force you to buy subs to play online etc.