Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground has confirmed the global release times for the hotly anticipated racing game, both for its early access release and the full launch.
Confirmation comes after Forza Horizon 6 suffered a significant leak on PC that led to the game being made available to pirates well before launch. Playground and parent company Microsoft have been working to plug the leak, and even issued pirates with lifetime hardware ID bans. Some had wondered if the leak would alter Forza Horizon 6’s release plans, perhaps with it being brought forward, but that is not the case.
As confirmed in a post on social media, Forza Horizon 6’s early access launch goes ahead as planned on May 15, although on Xbox it’s playable on the evening of May 14 on the west coast in order to align with the eastern timezone.
Steam access for everyone begins at 12:01 am with the U.S. Eastern time zone. This is a global release pattern, Playground said, so the Steam launch will be aligned to Eastern time. Full timezone details are below.
Early access is available only to those who buy the Premium edition. As a first-party Microsoft game, Forza Horizon 6 launches day one on Game Pass (PC and Ultimate) on May 19. Preload went live on May 12 across all platforms (Steam, Xbox Series X and S, and the Xbox app for PC – a PS5 version is on the way, although it's due out later this year). Meanwhile, Forza Horizon 6 is 'Verified' on Steam Deck and other devices, including the Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X.
Forza Horizon 6 Xbox early access global release times:
Thursday, May 14, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
- 09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
- 11:01 pm
Friday, May 15, 2026:
ET (New York):
- 00:01 am
BST (London):
- 00:01 am
CEST (Paris):
- 00:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
- 00:01 am
KST (Seoul):
- 00:01 am
AEST (Sydney):
- 00:01 am
NZST (Auckland):
- 00:01 am
Forza Horizon 6 Xbox global release times:
Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
- 09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
- 11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
- 00:01 am
BST (London):
- 00:01 am
CEST (Paris):
- 00:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
- 00:01 am
KST (Seoul):
- 00:01 am
AEST (Sydney):
- 00:01 am
NZST (Auckland):
- 00:01 am
Forza Horizon 6 PC via Steam early access global release times:
Thursday, May 14, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
- 09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
- 11:01 pm
Friday, May 15, 2026:
ET (New York):
- 00:01 am
BST (London):
- 05:01 am
CEST (Paris):
- 06:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
- 01:01 pm
KST (Seoul):
- 01:01 pm
AEST (Sydney):
- 02:01 pm
NZST (Auckland):
- 04:01 pm
Forza Horizon 6 PC via Steam global release times:
Monday, May 18, 2026:
PT (Seattle):
- 09:01 pm
CST (Mexico City):
- 11:01 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2026:
ET (New York):
- 00:01 am
BST (London):
- 05:01 am
CEST (Paris):
- 06:01 am
JST (Tokyo):
- 01:01 pm
KST (Seoul):
- 01:01 pm
AEST (Sydney):
- 02:01 pm
NZST (Auckland):
- 04:01 pm
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
