Delisted Open-World Racing Game Restores Online Features

Summary

• Forza Horizon 3's online services continue to function despite the game being delisted in 2020.
• A community manager from Playground Games confirmed the servers were rebooted after players reported unavailable features, reaffirming the studio's commitment to maintaining the online services.
• Forza Horizon 5 has reached a new milestone with over 40 million players since its launch in 2021.

Forza Horizon 3's online services have been revitalized recently, much to the delight of fans, despite the game's delisting. Playground Games has shown a strong commitment to keeping these features alive. After the original Forza Horizon and Forza Horizon 2 had their online services terminated following their delisting, many feared the same fate for Forza Horizon 3's multiplayer. However, a community manager from Playground Games quickly alleviated these concerns by confirming that the online features are still operational.

The Forza franchise began with Forza Motorsport in 2005, followed by the first Forza Horizon in 2012. The latest installment, Forza Horizon 5, stirred some controversy when it was not included in the Best Ongoing Game category at The Game Awards 2024. Despite this, Forza Horizon 5 has delivered more post-launch content than any other game in the series, including notable updates like the Hide and Seek multiplayer mode.

A Reddit user, JoaoPaulo3k, shared a screenshot of a post on the Forza subreddit where a player asked, "Is this the end of Forza 3?" due to certain features being inaccessible. This sparked concerns about the potential termination of online services. Fortunately, Playground's senior community manager responded promptly, earning praise from the community for confirming that the servers had been rebooted. Forza Horizon 3 entered its "End of Life" status in 2020, meaning the base game and its DLC were no longer available for purchase from the Microsoft Store.

Forza Horizon 3's Online Services Endure Despite Game Being Delisted

Last year, Forza fans faced another setback when Forza Horizon 4 was delisted in December 2024, despite its success and over 24 million players since its 2018 launch. However, it's encouraging to see Playground Games address online issues and general concerns about Forza Horizon 3 so swiftly. The community manager also noted a positive increase in traffic following the server reboot.

Three years after its debut, Forza Horizon 5 achieved a significant milestone by attracting over 40 million players since its 2021 release. This open-world racer has become one of Xbox's most successful games, and fans are eagerly anticipating the next installment, likely to be Forza Horizon 6. There's a strong desire among the player base for a Japan setting, and it's possible that Playground Games is already planning this while also working on the much-anticipated Fable title.