After a brief armistice, the console wars are back on. Despite an earlier announcement that Xbox’s Forza Horizon 6 would come to PlayStation 5 sometime this year, it seems the port has been quietly delayed. The Verge’s Tom Warren wrote as much on X, with IGN affirming the claim.
Forza Horizon 6’s 2026 release window for PS5 was announced shortly before the game came out on PC and Xbox Series X|S to glowing praise. However, things have changed at Xbox since earlier this year. Asha Sharma took over as Xbox Game Division CEO back in February, while several members of executive leadership left the company. Sharma later announced that Xbox would be undergoing a major “reset” to address its recent financial struggles. This culminated in a July announcement that 3,200 employees would be laid off over the next fiscal quarter and that Microsoft would be cutting ties with several of its studios.
Around the same time, Microsoft began to deemphasize publishing its games on rival platforms. While Halo: Campaign Evolved was released on PlayStation 5, Xbox reportedly pulled the game’s trailer from one of Sony’s State of Play broadcasts. Xbox also reportedly killed a mostly complete PS5 port of Gears of War: E-Day shortly before its reveal.
Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty previously said that “if we promised something to players, we’re going to honor that promise” regarding previously announced multiplatform games, implying that Forza Horizon 6 will eventually come out on PS5. However, he clarified that while certain multiplayer-focused games will likely remain multiplatform, “we know that exclusives are important.”
Sony has taken a similar tack, with Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reporting that the company was pulling back plans to release its games on Windows PC back in May. PlayStation released a sizzle reel earlier this month that suggested as much, showcasing several recent and upcoming releases while highlighting that these games are “Only On PS5.”
While it briefly seemed like console factionalism would be a thing of the past, this situation has quickly collapsed. The shift toward console exclusivity comes as gaming hardware keeps getting more expensive. The Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2 have all received price hikes that make them more expensive than at launch. Meanwhile, a recent report suggests costs may climb even higher due to a new batch of Trump administration tariffs.
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