SteamDB Shows Forza Horizon 6 Files Publicly Accessible Days Before Release

A large Forza Horizon 6 game build appeared to be publicly accessible on Steam days before the racing game’s scheduled launch, according to SteamDB records reviewed Monday, in what looks like a preload or configuration mistake rather than a confirmed hack.

SteamDB’s depot page for Forza Horizon 6, developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios for PC and Xbox, showed a public build with “Size on disk 155.63 GiB.” The same page listed “Last public update 10 May 2026 – 07:14:07 UTC” and a manifest timestamp of 6 May 2026 – 23:36:13 UTC. SteamDB also showed a manifest with full file names, including executables and asset files, suggesting that a large, near-complete game depot was publicly visible ahead of release.

That mattered because the game is not supposed to be available yet. The Steam store page lists Forza Horizon 6 as releasing on May 18, 2026, and says “Advanced Access Starts May 14.” Based on those dates, the public depot appeared several days before even the early-access period was due to begin.

In plain terms, Steam preloads let players download a game before launch so they can start playing as soon as it unlocks. Normally, those files are encrypted, meaning they are stored in a locked form until Steam sends the release update that decrypts or unlocks them at the official launch time. That system is designed to support big downloads without making the game playable early.

The SteamDB listings, combined with subsequent online reports, point to an apparent preload problem: the game files seem to have been exposed in an unencrypted or otherwise accessible state before release. SteamDB’s public depot evidence does not, by itself, prove how broadly playable copies spread online. But it does show that a very large Forza Horizon 6 build was visible publicly before the game’s scheduled unlock.

Community posts on Reddit and coverage from gaming outlets including Tech4Gamers then said the files had begun circulating on piracy sites and that some users were streaming the game early. Those claims were widely discussed online Monday, but they were not independently verified here. Tech4Gamers described the situation as a Steam mistake, reporting that users were able to download more than 155 GB of game files ahead of launch. A Reddit thread discussing the leak also reportedly displayed a notice saying it had been removed by Reddit’s Legal Operations team, a sign that takedown activity may already have started.

The episode is notable because Forza Horizon is one of Microsoft’s bigger first-party franchises, and a preload leak more than a week before Steam’s listed release date can undercut a tightly managed launch window. Even so, the verified core of the story is narrower: SteamDB showed a public Forza Horizon 6 depot of roughly 155.6 GB before launch, and online communities subsequently reported that the files spread beyond Steam.

Microsoft, Xbox Game Studios and developer Playground Games had not publicly detailed what happened in the sources reviewed at the time of writing. Steam’s store page still lists Advanced Access beginning May 14, followed by the full release on May 18.