Forza Horizon 5 loses more than 75% of its players on Steam within months of release

Forza Horizon 5 has had a stellar launch, with rave reviews and high player counts. Developed by Playground Games, it has been praised for its excellent graphics, picturesque open world setting, dynamic weather and a plethora of cars. The title also bagged three awards at the Game Awards 2021, including Best Sports/Racing Game.

Yet, it seems that Forza Horizon 5 has been unable to hold on to its player base on Steam. The game community has pointed out a number of issues with the game that they are unhappy with. The steady decline in player numbers, as per Steam, indicates that players have finally had enough.

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Forza Horizon 5 players jumping ship to Halo Infinite?

Steam Charts of Forza Horizon 5 (Image via Steam Charts)

Forza Horizon 5 has been plagued by numerous bugs, exploits and glitches that have ruined the experience for players. The community has repeatedly spoken up about issues that hinder gameplay and make for a poor user experience.

The streets of Mexico are completely devoid of any traffic. In freeroam mode, this strips the immersiveness of the racing game. Players have blamed the game's matchmaking mechanics for this issue. Presently, the only way to populate the world is to turn to solo mode.

There have also been a number of more serious game-breaking bugs at play - some of which have been quashed by the developer while others remain at large. Problems like infinite saving loops, never-ending loading screens and random crashes have only been compounded by recent updates to Forza Horizon 5.

Aside from the game breaking bugs, one of the factor contributing to Forza Horizon 5’s reducing playerbase could be attributed to friend-fire from Xbox’s Halo Infinite. In a recent Reddit post about the player base's depletion, multiple users have commented that they have picked Halo Infinite over Forza Horizon 5 and are not looking back.

However, it should be mentioned that Steam only counts for a section of the player base, and is not an accurate representation of the entire community, which is divided across the Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Furthermore, as the title is available on Game Pass, a majority of the PC players are playing the game through the Windows Store.

The Steam Charts analysis of Forza Horizon 5's player count is surely going to be a cause for concern for Playground Games. The developer provided an update on December 9, stating that work is underway on addressing the aforementioned issues. The new patch, as well as any possible future DLCs could see some of the players return to the game.