However, the strategy of stretching the game out as much as possible is working and paying off in the gamepass combination, and the latest Steamdb results for FH5 are pretty good.
Since the game’s launch in 2021, the average number of players has only increased.
12500 in May 2022
20700 in May 2023
24500 in May 2024
These are Steam figures again, so they’re a tiny but representative part of the trend. There have been peaks depending on the updates, but the overall trend is upwards over three rolling years.
This can be explained by the decline of the previous opus, Forza Horizon 4, which had a good lifespan, in figures:
18,800 in May 2022
15900 in May 2023
11,000 in May 2024
There’s a generation shift taking place, and there’s still plenty of room for manoeuvre. What’s more, the promotion of gamepass and the arrival of even more popular games are only going to increase demand for Forza, and therefore its visibility, as many future new players of the licence (and they have plenty to do if they start the game today).
That’s why I think we’ll have to wait another two years for the next Horizon, there’s no reason for them to rush into something that’s doing so well.
It’s going to be a long time for me, as an enthusiast and a day-one gamer, but FH5 still has a long way to go
Yes true that, it’s definitely possible, but frame rate is a big issue when it comes to skyscrapers. You can see it in The Crew 2 for example, when you drove to New York the frame rate just dumped. In FH3 all of the tall buildings where super low detailed to mitigate that issue, the same buildings that we got for FH5 EventLab. I play on Xbox Series X on 60fps without ray tracing and when I drive some EventLabs with tall buildings or many props that have to be rendered, then the frame rate drops frequently below 60.
When you go back to FH3 or FH4 you can see that many parts of the city where blocked off. We don’t know if that was because of performance issues or because of time management, but both cities where pretty big non the less.
I think for the next Horizon game the devs have to really focus on performance, especially as their games are known for bad performance at least at release of FH4 and FH5. Now FH5 is pretty good, but I think they have to do a lot of workarounds to make a big city possible. But hey, maybe they use the time, now that it’s pretty sure FH6 won’t be coming before 2025.
I think they will use FM’s engine.
FM added 3D vegetation (FM7 was 2D) so now we can have more 3D objects. I don’t expect any graphical improvements, i want a more dense map.
I actually feel good that FH6 is not slated after what happened to the “built from the ground up” FORZA Motorsport 2023. The lighting, materials and graphics just look terrible. Let PG take the time they need to deliver on FH6.
I agree, but I also want to add onto that, that even though some really cool maps come from it, and it’s great for player creativity, if you don’t have an incredibly high-end PC or console the amount of lag that you get from some of those maps makes it almost unplayable. But other than that, I agree with the rest of what you said.
