One week ago, I joined two million folks tearing through Britain’s countryside in Forza Horizon 4. It’s one of those games that grabs you and won’t let go. One hour turns into four as I hunt down the next dirt race. Drifting around corners as dirt and snow ping inside the wheel well is one of my top gaming moments of 2018.
Forza Horizon 4 is the video game definition of pure fun. And the presentation is mind-blowing.
Today, Playground Games and Microsoft announced a handful of stats celebrating a big first week post-launch.
2 million players. Xbox’s Game Pass undoubtedly helped boost the numbers, but State of Decay 2 showed even with Game Pass, folks will still buy the game traditionally. It topped the NPD chart despite hitting the subscription service at launch.
Speaking of State of Decay 2, it took just under two weeks to exceed two million players. Sea of Thieves hit the two million player milestone in its first week. Both games continued to see solid growth with Sea of Thieves over 5 million players as of late July and State of Decay 2 over 3 million players as of late June.
Highest-rated exclusive on Xbox One. Critics are enjoying it as much as the rest of us with a 92 on Metacritic. That makes it the best-rated exclusive on Xbox One according to Microsoft.
822.7+ million miles. I would love to see a breakdown of how many miles are on roads, and how many are through open fields. I won’t lie, I cut through the countryside a lot as I’m making my way to a waypoint.
4.1 million houses, 74.4 million cars. Folks are finding plenty to spend credits on. Sometimes you can’t count on wheelspins to give you a car. Hell, a lot of the times. I said Forza Horizon 4 is pure fun, but watching a super wheelspin give you a car horn, pants, and a dance makes my soul hurt.
377.7 million roads discovered. That’s about 188 roads per person on average.
Playground Games’ Gavin Raeburn gave a shout out to all the fans. “On behalf of everyone at Playground Games, thank you for supporting Forza Horizon 4 and making the game such a success.” That success translates to Forza continuing to be the best-selling racing franchise of this console generation.
And the future is looking even better. One of the most anticipated features for Forza Horizon is right around the corner. On October 25, the Route Creator will hit. Here’s a ten-minute look at how the creator works and a tease of what’s possible.
I know there are too many games to play right now with only more coming, but find some time for Forza Horizon 4. You won’t be disappointed.