Originally a spin-off of Microsoft's exclusive racer, Forza Motorsport, Playground Games' Forza Horizon series has taken an identity separate from its origins by giving its players a sense of freedom, exploring open-world maps, and participating in events with other fellow drivers. Its latest release, Forza Horizon 4, set players in the expansive countryside of Great Britain, introducing various features including seasonal weather changes.
Beginning with its release in 2018, Forza Horizon 4 had introduced monthly cycles known as "Series" updates, allowing players a chance to earn exclusive cars through completing various events and objectives. Historically, the cars featured in each Series are brand-new inclusions to the game, allowing players a fair chance to unlock cars without the use of paying real currency. After three years, new content featured in the monthly cycles will come to an end, leaving many Horizon 4 players wondering how future content will be distributed.
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During the Forza Monthly podcast, a preview of Series 37 was shown including the newest addition to Forza Horizon 4, the Vuhl 50RR, a Mexican supercar, coincidentally tying with Forza Horizon 5's location being the countryside of Mexico. In relation to the newest Horizon, the devs confirmed that Series 37 will be the final update to feature new and exclusive content for Horizon 4 as the development will shift towards Horizon 5.
Instead, starting with Series 38 onward, content from Series 7 to Series 32 will be combined together, compared to a "mix-tape" of sorts. When asked what the future of Horizon 4 will be for fans following the release of Horizon 5, Playground's Senior Producer Tom Butcher stated that while plans aren't ready to be revealed yet, there are plans to make sure "Forza Horizon 4 continues to be a fun experience" for its player base.
Despite being almost a three-year-old game, Forza Horizon 4 had enjoyed sustained success thanks to its live service system, allowing players to experience added content over the course of its game's lifespan. Its recent release on Steam had set record sales, taking the #2 spot on the first week of its release behind Valheim. Playground Games' commitment to Forza Horizon 4 will serve as important to keeping the interest of the player base prior to the release of Horizon 5 to ensure the transition to the newer game is as seamless as possible.
Since its release on Steam, Forza Horizon 4 has seen its current average player base around the 8,000 range, experiencing an increase due to the ongoing Steam Summer Sale, as it is currently 50% off. While the lack of new content may seem disappointing to long-term players of Forza Horizon 4, the added chance of receiving exclusive content from previous cycles will serve as an incentive for new and returning players to obtain cars that they have missed out on in the past.
Forza Horizon 5 will release on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 21st.