Xbox Game Ending Support Only 2 Years After Release

The modern gaming space is a tricky place, where constant updates and active servers can be crucial to the overall success of a game. Especially when a title comes from a major publisher, expectations are high for success — and can be coldly efficient for games that are effectively discontinued. With developers and studios often one flop away from being hit with massive cuts, it’s not a huge surprise to see games with mixed receptions pivot away from ambitious plans into more realistic directions.

This extends to Forza Motorsport, the latest entry in Xbox’s long-running racing simulator. Released in 2023 to critical fanfare but a mixed player reception, the title’s plans for a multi-year roadmap of updates and upgrades have been cut short. In fact, this seems to be the latest indication that fans of Forza Motorsport might have to be content with the most recent entry in the series for a while.

Forza Motorsport (2023) Isn’t Getting Any More New Updates

The Forza Motorsport franchise has been a consistent franchise within the racing genre, with 14 mainline games released between 2005 and 2023. One of the most recent entries in the series, Forza Motorsport, was developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios in 2023. The game was well-received by critics, with the title winning two prizes at the 2023 Game Awards. However, players were harsher on the experience. A big appeal of the revamped version of the series was the promise of new content and updates, which could hopefully alleviate some of those problems. However, it seems that Xbox has decided to halt development on any further additions to the game experience.

It’s been confirmed by Turn 10 Studios that there will not be any more content developed for the game. While the servers will remain active for players, there won’t be any new cars or fresh tracks. This halt in active development also means there won’t be regular fixes for any bugs or other updates. The team did emphasize that the servers will see special events and competitions, and that previously released Featured Tours and reward cars will still come out. This ensures that the game continues to be playable for established players. In the meantime, the development team will be repositioned and moved over to the team for Forza Horizon 6, which is set to debut sometime in 2026.

Why Forza Motorsport’s Future Has Come To A Halt

When it was initially released, Forza Motorsport had a multiple-year-long update plan in place. It was clear that Turn 10 Studios intended to regularly expand and upgrade the game, potentially bringing in new cars and tracks as time went on. However, the Turn 10 Studios team was among the many branches of Microsoft’s gaming division that took a hard hit earlier this year. The team was reportedly cut in half over the summer, with an estimated 120 members of the Turn 10 Studios team laid off. The remainder of the team (and the development studio as a whole) has shifted gears and has been working alongside Playground Games on Forza Horizon 6.

While this means that Forza Motorsport will still be readily playable for the foreseeable future, it doesn’t bode well for the future of the series. Forza Motorsport has long been one of the Xbox’s primary franchises, effectively Microsoft’s answer to PlayStation’s Gran Turismo series. However, it seems that Microsoft is content to leave the series for a little while, with Xbox Gaming CEO Phil Spencer addressing concerns about the future of the series by noting that “we sometimes have to shift our focus to games that will be released earlier.”

Given the notoriety of the franchise, it feels like another blow to the Xbox brand as a competitor to the likes of PlayStation and Switch 2, especially after former exclusives like Halo: Combat Evolved and Gears of War were announced to be making the move to PlayStation. This makes Forza Motorsport‘s apparent halt an even more concerning development, as it suggests even the legacy franchises for the Xbox aren’t safe from the harsh realities of cancellations and downsizing. At least racing fans have Forza Horizon 6 to look forward to, which will bring the more open-ended racing back to the Xbox sometime next year.