Forza Horizon 3 Drives On With Nine Million Players

With Forza Horizon 4 set to pull out of the garage this fall, expectations are high that the arcade-style racing series will continue to flourish on Xbox One and PC. Based on what we've seen with Forza Horizon 3's audience numbers though, the developers at Playground Games have nothing to worry about.

While speaking with IGN, it was revealed that the latest entry in the open-world racing series has managed to get more than nine million players -- a new plateau for the series. Ralph Fulton, who works as creative director over at Playground, confirmed the stat.

"I think, to date, more than nine million people have played Forza Horizon 3," he said. But he was shocked by how popular it became. "But if you'd told me right back around the launch window that that was going to be how it panned out? That's astonishing; that was beyond wildest dreams territory for this team."

The game has benefitted from some impressive downloadable content to keep players driving in the game's open world, including one that puts them in the midst of a blizzard-tattered mountain as well as a highly impressive Hot Wheels-based world with stunt-filled tracks galore.

But that isn't stopping the team from upping the ante with 4, which will let players drive around overseas in a number of new locations, through different weather conditions. Here are the features in case you need a reminder of how awesome it's going to be:

• SEASONS CHANGE EVERYTHING. For the first time in the racing and driving genre, experience dynamic seasons in a shared open-world. Explore beautiful scenery, collect over 450 cars, and become a Horizon Superstar in historic Britain.
• Britain Like You've Never Seen it. Discover lakes, valleys, castles, and breathtaking scenery all in spectacular native 4K and HDR on Xbox One X and Windows 10.
• Master Driving in All Seasons. Explore a changing world through dry, wet, muddy, snowy, and icy conditions.
• New Content Every Week. Every week, a new season change brings new themed content, gameplay, challenges, and rewards.Go it Alone or Team Up. Play solo or cooperatively. Join Team multiplayer for casual fun or Ranked Teams to take on the best in the world. Xbox Live Gold (sold separately) required for online multiplayer on Xbox consoles.

Forza Horizon 4 will release on October 2 for Xbox One and Windows PC. You can check out Forza Horizon 3 and all its add-ons for those formats now.