One of the biggest Xbox games of the year, Forza Horizon 6, is now just a week away from its May 19 release date, with Early Access to the title unlocking this week for Premium Edition owners on May 15. It's a time of widespread excitement and hype for what's expected to be one of 2026's best games, and an Xbox Game Pass hit too — but it's been marred by quite a disastrous leak of the Steam version of the title.

On Sunday, Xbox and developer Playground Games uploaded preload files for Forza Horizon 6 to Steam, but did so without encryption. This presumably led to pirates downloading and cracking the game and then leaking it early, enabling people to play the highly anticipated arcade racer early and for free on PC if they're willing to go digging for the build.

While there are HWID spoofers out there that attempt to bypass bans like this, I don't recommend trying to use them, as they're not always reliable and could be used as a vehicle to deliver malware to your system. The only surefire way to get around a HWID ban is to get a completely new motherboard for your PC; that's expensive, especially with how pricey PC components are lately.

Notably, as I was writing this article, Xbox and Playground Games actually commented on this issue publicly, asserting that the leaked build didn't come from Steam preload files (this seems unlikely if you ask me, given the timing of things) but vowing to strike anyone found with access to this build with "franchise-wide and hardware bans."

"We are aware of reports that a build of Forza Horizon 6 has been obtained prior to its release and can confirm this is not the result of a pre-load issue," wrote the developer. "We are taking strict enforcement action against any individuals found accessing this build including franchise-wide and hardware bans. We encourage fans to sit tight for the game’s release on May 19."

I'm not going to tell you what to do, but given the risk of hardware bans and potentially even getting banned from the entire Forza franchise, I strongly recommend that if you want to play Forza Horizon 6, you just wait a week to do so. It's got an MSRP of $69.99, but it's just $54.39 at Loaded. The $119.99 Premium Edition with Early Access included is also $92.99 at Loaded.

Are you looking forward to playing Forza Horizon 6? Let me know in the comments, and in our poll.

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Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. He's been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you'll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he's not writing or gaming, there's a good chance he's either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once. Follow him on X (Twitter).