Playground Games confirms Forza Horizon 6 hack came from the inside

A 155 GB unencrypted build of Forza Horizon 6 was leaked online before its scheduled release, and Playground Games has confirmed that the source was not a Steam employee or technical error but a reviewer, influencer, or industry insider.

The leak, which surfaced online nearly a week before the game's planned debut, came after an unencrypted Steam build was uploaded, allowing the files to be freely accessed and shared. Reports from Reddit and cracking forums indicated that the files included thousands of assets, effectively giving early access to the game's full content.

The incident raises serious concerns about how unreleased game builds are handled within the industry. Playground Games, known for its meticulous development and release strategies, now faces the challenge of mitigating the impact of the leak on both consumer excitement and competitive integrity.

With Forza Horizon 6 now in the wild ahead of schedule, the leak could delay or alter future release planning. Whether the leak will affect the game's performance or long-term success remains to be seen. But for now, Playground Games is focused on ensuring the official launch remains as impactful as intended.

Notably, if the leak has come from a reviewer, I can verify that if a developer/publisher sends an early access copy of a title for review, that copy typically has some kind of identifier attached that links the reviewer to that specific copy of the game.

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Sometimes this irremovable identifier can be the reviewer's email address or assigned ID number bouncing around over the top of the gameplay, similar to the old DVD symbol, or it can be buried within the files themselves. Either way, if this leak did come from a reviewer, Playground Games should be able to identify the source and blacklist them.