This is pretty much out of the blue for me. Open-world racing Forza Horizon 5 which was exclusively released on Xbox and PC suddenly bowled out on PlayStation 5. No warning at all, no countdown, no teaser, just this: BOOM, grab your keys and get your civic engines running.
A midnight bombshell news dump comes from the Forza Twitter account with the announcement alongside a link to grab it, and a hype trailer with some cars doing ostensible stunts in Mexico, because duh: that’s the Horizon vibe. No reason, no acknowledgement of their elephants, just a mic drop. Oh, and the internet? Yeah, it’s going crazy now.
So why all the commotion? Forza Horizon was, is, and shall forever be, the darling of Microsoft; it is a system seller for the Xbox. To allow such a title on PlayStation can be compared to the event whereby McDonald’s just decided one day to sell Big Macs at Burger King. Weird. Unusual. And to be quite honest? Those who own a PlayStation are now gorging themselves. You would find responses ranging from such phrases as “WAIT, IS THIS REAL?” to “MY WALLET WASN’T READY!”
Thus comes the million-dollar question: Is there going to be a single instance here, or are we witnessing the onset of Microsoft saying, ‘Why not both?’ Remember the acquisition of Bethesda, and how everyone kind of panicked about Elder Scrolls 6 being exclusive to Xbox? Yeah, that’s pretty much gone out the window. If Forza-forging synonymous with Xbox-can cross over, what more have Halo? Gears? (Not likely, but let us dream.)
The PS5 is actually going to perform beautifully according to some early players while haptic feedback on the DualSense controller mimics that of shredding tires during drifting. Yes, all the DLC is also present, hot wheels, rally adventures, ridiculous car horns-nothing cut. It is pure, unadulterated Horizon chaos.
But no cross-play is here, though. So Xbox and PC players are caged in their tiny little lobbies brimming with potential pure madness that could have been otherwise. Just imagine-a 100-player race, half of which has already been wrecked by some cacti because of over-enthusiastic PlayStation newbies. Poetry.
So if you own a PS5, even for the slightest desire to burn rubber, then pick it up because it’s not anymore an Xbox exclusive: one of the finest racing games of the decade. It’s crazy. Crazy indeed.
And for anybody who is still not buying it, go check out that trailer. That shot of a Corvette flying past a volcano? That’s your life now. Buckle up.
