Forza Horizon 5 supports Xbox Play Anywhere, buy once to play on Xbox and PC

By Zachary Boddy
published

Bridging the gap between Xbox and PC.

Forza Horizon 5 Store Screenshot
Forza Horizon 5 Store Screenshot (Image credit: Xbox Game Studios | Microsoft)

What you need to know

  • Forza Horizon 5 is the latest open-world racing game from Playground Games, just announced at E3 2021.
  • It's been slightly difficult to confirm whether or not Forza Horizon 5 followed its predecessor as an Xbox Play Anywhere title.
  • Forza Horizon 5 does support the Xbox Play Anywhere title, meaning you can buy the game once and own it on Xbox and PC.
  • Forza Horizon 5 also supports Smart Delivery, cross-saves, and cross-play, and blends the lines between platforms and generations.

Forza Horizon 5 is the latest entry in the long-running Forza Horizon open-world racing series, and it looks incredible. Forza Horizon 5's reveal during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase at E3 2021 drove excitement for the upcoming games to new levels, and revealed a ton of information immediately. One facet of information that's been a little uncertain has been whether or not Forza Horizon 5 supports the Xbox Play Anywhere program.

Forza Horizon 4 is a proud supporter of Xbox Play Anywhere, making it easy to play the game on Xbox and PC. Forza Horizon 5, however, was curiously missing any mention of Xbox Play Anywhere on most of its marketing materials and Forza Horizon 5's preorders. Forza Horizon 5 also doesn't appear on the official Xbox Play Anywhere page (opens in new tab).

Fortunately, Forza Horizon 5 does support Xbox Play Anywhere, as we've been able to confirm from two separate locations. While Forza Horizon 5's preorders don't show any mention of Xbox Play Anywhere, the generic Forza Horizon 5 store page (opens in new tab) does. In addition, the fact sheet included in the Forza Horizon 5 Xbox Wire media set (opens in new tab) confirms that Forza Horizon 5 is an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

For the uninitiated, Xbox Play Anywhere is an optional program for developers that lets you buy an Xbox or PC game from the Microsoft Store, and own it immediately on both platforms. Xbox Play Anywhere failed to obtain the traction many thought it would at first, but it continues to grow over time steadily and remains one of the best perks for those invested in the Xbox platform.

Forza Horizon 5 not only supports Xbox Play Anywhere, it also supports Smart Delivery, cross-play, and cross-save. That means you can play Forza Horizon 5 across Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, and always know you're playing the best possible version of Forza Horizon 5, won't lose any of your progression, and can continue playing with your friends across platforms and generations.

Forza Horizon 5 officially releases on November 9, 2021, and is included in Xbox Game Pass on day one. You can preorder Forza Horizon 5 starting right now, with multiple editions to choose from. When it releases, Forza Horizon 5 is liable to launch straight to the top of our best Xbox games.

Forza Horizon 5 Box ArtThe Festival returns

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Forza Horizon 5 (Preorder)

An epic adventure.

Forza Horizon 5 is the latest project from Playground Games, and continues the epic Forza Horizon adventure with a new roster of amazing cars and a brand-new location to explore: Mexico. Forza Horizon 5 launches on Xbox and PC later this year, and it's already available to preorder.

Zachary Boddy
Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.

14 Comments
  • My favorite part: buy once, play simultaneously on multiple devices 😎😎
  • Ah, so Play Anywhere does still exist.
  • It's a shame they had to clarify this...
  • If you go to the store page it lists it as Play Anywhere.
  • It is publisher dependent. Most prefer to make you pay twice.
    (Bethesda being one. That should be interesting to see.)
    One of the reasons why MS growing their first party catalog is good.
  • Well, we are talking about First Party titles here. I know MS wasn't the publisher on The Outer Worlds or Wasteland 3, but what about Gears Tactics that didn't get the XPA port till nearly a year later? I would also hope they don't use Bethesda as a loophole around the XGS published games being XPA. That would be ridiculous because technically Bethesda is still first party.
  • I was thinking Fallout 4. I had to buy it twice to get it on PC.
    Now it's on Gamepass, of course, but they can theoretically distinguish between XGS and Berhesda published games. We'll have to wait and see...
  • Gears Tactics was released only for PCs though.
  • It came out for the Series consoles already and is XPA. That's my point, they didn't release both at the same time. The same will happen with AoE4 if they port it to console.
  • I mean, Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons are first party titles and neither are XPA. They're really taking advantage of the "Xbox Game Studios" limitation.
  • Ah thanks.... I forgot about the Minecraft Dungeons crap. I knew I was missing something. Yeah, this one REALLLY pissed me off. I mean they finally put cross saves in. Geeze. Minecraft is understandable, it's kind of its own platform.
  • Play Anywhere? I remember that chap. It's what got me through my early adopter days of not-yet-quite-for-PC Game Pass. But we did get all the big MS games like Sea of Thieves and FH4. Good guy MS always doing right.
  • Microsoft blog 2016: "With the Xbox Play Anywhere program, you can buy a game once and play on your Windows 10 PC and Xbox One with shared progress, shared game saves and shared achievements. EVERY NEW TITLE PUBLISHED FROM MICROSOFT STUDIOS will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store." Seems like there have been a lot of exceptions to that. They even revised the blog post to change it to: "With the Xbox Play Anywhere program, you can buy a game once and play on your Windows 10 PC and Xbox One with shared progress, shared game saves and shared achievements. Every new title published from Microsoft Studios THAT WE SHOWED AT E3 THIS YEAR will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store." (caps added for emphasis)
  • I don't think they lied yet, XGS didn't publish The Outer Worlds and Wasteland 3. Gears Tactics also come out in XPA a while later. If Flight Sim releases the port as XPA (along with AoE4 eventually), this will still be a true statement. Should it happen immediately? Hell yes. I don't think we should have to wait for a console port.