Forza Horizon 6 is so big the developers split into two teams

In a recent article with IGN, Playground Games has shone a light on the highly anticipated Forza Horizon 6, revealing interesting facts about the title, such as the biggest world the studio has ever created and the need to split into two teams to tackle it.

Playground Games production director Mike Bennett explained that the Horizon infrastructure enabled the developers to overcome challenges, such as the decision to include people within the world without influencing the driving experience. The workaround was to include people, but within walled-off areas that feature Horizon Festival branding.

That way, players get the immersion increase of seeing a populated city, but without the hindrance of inevitable collisions. Additionally, the developers revealed that, because Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan, Tokyo had to be a focal point of the game, and Playground Games took that challenge very seriously, dedicating a team specifically to creating Tokyo's roads, foliage, terrain, and buildings.

"We have a team making our city specifically, and a lot of that is: it's our biggest city we've ever made," says Arceta. "It's so layered and so detailed - much more than anything we've done in the past. To make Tokyo City for Forza Horizon, we really need a dedicated team. It covers everything from roads, buildings, foliage, terrain; Tokyo has all of it. It's just such a big biome that it just warranted its own team," said art director Don Arceta

Forza Horizon 6 is releasing on May 19, 2026, on Xbox consoles, PC, and PlayStation at a later date.