The occurrence of the event was co-ordinated by Turn 10 Studios and the official Forza Motorsport account. You know, the sort of things that usually take place at the year’s end. They tweeted at the end of 2025, talking about the past year and saying that it was the ‘top Forza news’ of the year and that they were also celebrating the ‘art of creative Forza players’. The tweet was accompanied by a link to a photo gallery of community photos and liveries. It was a good, uplifting, yearly-review moment that was well received. A moment to give thanks to the virtual car painters and photographers who, in their own way, made the games colorful and lively.
But the response from the community was not appreciation.
Instead, what the community expressed was not a bunch of interjections of ‘good year!’ followed by ‘fantastic pics!’ but the replies turned into something like a digital intervention. A huge united shout of disappointment, anger, and sadness directed at the developers and Microsoft. This celebratory tweet just so happened to coincide with the fading—heavy interpretation—of support for the latest Forza Motorsport (the 2023 reboot). Gamers did not want to look at nice pictures. They wanted to let off steam.
So what exactly was it that got the players so furious? Player ‘Cebo’ (TimoTim19) without any hesitation wrote that the career mode was ‘so bad’ and mentioned the features that were missing: ‘No career stats, no garage mode. We never see drivers without their helmets on…no post-race interviews or replays…NOTHING! Still, it took three times longer to produce.’ Another player strongly concurred with this and called the 2023 title ‘one, if not the worst, XGS game released this generation’ and said that it was ‘released unfinished while bringing absolutely nothing new to the table.’ Such a harsh statement for a flagship first-party game.
And it was not only the lack of features that players were mad about. The dissatisfaction quickly spread to the negative perception of Microsoft’s treatment of its major Xbox franchises. Gamers drew a direct parallel to the way Halo Infinite was treated. User ‘Fl0winWater’ bluntly and clearly stated, ‘Xbox really does not deserve my money. They have canceled or stopped supporting mainline games, for example, Halo Infinite and now Forza. If those two franchises are allowed to die, then nothing is safe.’ Others, like ‘magicturbo’, argued that Microsoft was more focused on its AI investments than the gaming community: ‘Microsoft should be ashamed for treating their Xbox players this way…the most useless approach in terms of investing hundreds of billions in AI hardware. Shameful.’
Nonetheless, not every comment was a pure expression of anger. There were also feelings of sympathy and compassion. A user ‘Etrimon’ in a very concise manner stated that ‘he felt so betrayed by Turn 10 and Motorsport…sorry to say that…it is not anger, just real sad disappointment…’ A passionate player, going by ‘InkDark1981’, even made the poignant statement, ‘I don’t want the Forza Motorsport Series to die. It’s so sad for me that I have been the Forza Motorsport Series player for 18 years. I miss all of them.’ That’s 18 years of loyalty treated with a sense of neglect. It hurts.
Among the noisy reactions, there were some specific and recurring demands that kept coming back. One of the main points includes the always-online digital rights management (DRM) feature of the game. Numerous users asked the developers to ‘remove the always online DRM’ or ‘update the game to play offline’, arguing that it would at least slow down the process of the game being completely forgotten. Others like ‘IMan254’ were even more daring and called for the reopening of the servers for the previous titles like Forza Motorsport 2, 3 and 4 and that they become backwards compatible—this being a reminder of better times for the series.
Some others could merely suggest the upsides of the game while not fully coming to its defense. ‘necrogoatlord’ pointed out that the safety rating system of the game ‘finally got rid of all the blatant rammers and wreckers’ and even claimed it ‘the best driving model in an FM game yet by far’, thus making the decision to move on ‘disappointing.’ Even the positive remark, ‘This is the best FORZA ever’ from ‘Genesis_Plan_A’, felt like a lonely land surrounded by a sea of discontent.
Oops! What was I just saying? Oh yes, the disconnect. The official page’s tweet was a highlight reel. The community’s reaction was an autopsy. It’s a harsh lesson in timing and understanding one’s audience. When your player base is lamenting the perceived death of a game they wished to love, a PlayStation moment of celebration feels wildly out of touch.
