The popular racing game Forza Horizon 4 is being taken off digital stores. Developer Playground Games announced that the game will no longer be sold because of licensing and partner agreements. Starting December 15th, 2024, it won’t be available for purchase on Microsoft stores and Steam.
If you still want to buy the game, you have until December 15th. The last in-game event will be held from July 25th to August 22nd. After this, some achievements related to the Festival Playlists won’t be possible to unlock.
Adding to the confusion, Forza Horizon 4’s downloadable content (DLC) is being removed starting today. If you played the game on Xbox Game Pass and bought some DLC, you’ll get a code to download the full game and continue playing after it’s delisted. This code will be sent to eligible players with a fully paid Xbox Game Pass subscription soon and must be redeemed by June 25th, 2026.
Interestingly, Playground Games mentioned that the servers will stay online even after the game is delisted. This means both offline and online modes will still be playable. By providing Game Pass subscribers with a code to keep the game, Playground is trying to handle this situation as best as possible. However, the delisting process can still be confusing and problematic, especially for games with real-life car and music licenses.
Forza Horizon 4 will be just over six years old when it’s removed from digital stores. After this, only physical Xbox copies will be available for new players or collectors. Although Forza Horizon 5 is a great successor and the series will likely continue, it still feels disappointing that digital games have such a short lifespan.
My Opinion:
It’s sad to see Forza Horizon 4 being removed from digital stores. Even though the game is six years old, it’s still a lot of fun to play. It’s good that Playground Games is keeping the servers online and giving Game Pass subscribers a way to keep playing. However, the whole process of delisting is confusing and makes it hard for new players to enjoy older games. Digital games should have a longer lifespan, just like physical copies.