It's been a great year for announcements from Microsoft, but it's arguably been its quietest ever year for first party games. And to make matters worse, Forza Motorsport 2 recently slipped out of its tentative December release slot to Q1 2007. But all the headline-grabbing announcements at X06 succeeded in taking the spotlight off such trifling matters, and ensured that Turn 10's game could make a low profile public playable debut.
Not that there was much to see anyway. In what amounted to little more than a taster of what to expect early next year, Eurogamer were treated to an opportunity to test the Tsukuba Circuit (70 will feature in the full game, from 18 environments) in a limited selection of cars across the spectrum including the Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Gallardo as well as the less spectacular models from Ford and Subaru. Some 300 cars are expected to make the final cut, with Porsche, General Motors, Nissan and Volkswagen all figuring, with 13 real-world licensed circuits including the Road America race track, Silverstone and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Four new real-world circuit will figure, including the Sebring International Raceway.
Xbox: "Today, we’re excited to share a major milestone – as of December 2016, the Forza franchise has exceeded $1 billion in retail sales."
Pretty much expected regarding Forza Horizon 3 (selling 2.5M units). Good numbers compared to the previous iterations.
This is good news. The best racing franchise should be supported. Glad it is. #forzaplayers
Selling more than the previous versions would be good news.
"The best racing franchise should be supported."
It is, very much so.
I know. 2.5 million copies isn't bad at all. Forza is smashing it, critically and now sales are reflecting that too.
I wonder if there will be a racer this gen that comes close critically. If so, we're truly in for a treat.
It is amazing watching sales matter and not matter all at the same time. Same with what they reflect.
Quality matters more than sales. Always. And that's why Forza is at the top of the game. Horizon 3 deserves those sales because we need more games like it.
Great to see some good news from forza! Retailing 1 billion bucks is a pretty good milestone. I remember gta5 did it In like a week or so. It may have taken forza longer to reach this milestone and with 10 games...but hey not many have reached that milestone.
@Septic
I thought sales reflected people finally seeing the quality.
"Forza is smashing it, critically and now sales are reflecting that too."
You're all over the place.
Do they only reflect quality or what it deserves when it comes to Forza?
"@Septic
I thought sales reflected people finally seeing the quality. "
Lets be honest- frankly terrible games have seen some strong sales. Comparatively drastically weaker racers for instance have seen even higher sales.
"You're all over the place.
Do they only reflect quality or what it deserves when it comes to Forza?"
I'm not all over the place at all. Weren't you the one downplaying the sales previously? See my link below. Its not rocket science mate. The game's quality is great. Sometimes the sales numbers dont do a great game justice. We've seen that time and time again in this industry.
Forza Horizon 3 is an excellent game and the highest rated racer this gen. Now it deserves great sales doesn't it? Its very simple.
@Septic
Let's get real here. 2.5M is great for Forza Horizon 3, but it's not that impressive overall. GT Sport will most likely do that very quickly. Driveclub sold 2M and that had a terrible launch.
1B sounds like a big number, but then you realise GT5 did approximately half a billion at retail alone.
Sony fanboys out in force today!
Looks like your down play is back firing.
"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's" right now Forza is number one hands down and other races need to work hard to get at Forza level...
I wonder if Polyphony digital will start to fight back whit GT, cause right now Forza is killing it.
Best racing franchise is already heavily supported. More than 70 million sales to be precise.
Both of your inicial comments are stealth trolling. Why cant you be happy with the news. Then you say others troll...
You already know that when another game arrived it will surpass those numbers maybe in the first 24 hours....
@Overload
This isn't about GT Sports or Driveclub. You always need to bring some Sony games into a conversation that has nothing to do with them. Forza games have always sold the 2-4 million even when it was on the XBox 360 with over 87 million units sold. It has it's own fanbase that buy it regularly. No one cares what GT Sports or DriveClub sold. They aren't even in the article. All you want to do is TROLL XBox One articles.
@Unspoken
Yes. Trolling Overlord has returned to another XBox One article when he most likely doesn't even own one. He was doing fine until he decided to bring Sony exclusives racers into the mix. He didn't even go for Project Cars or Need For Speed games? lmao!!
Fantastic numbers for FH3! Already at halfway of GT6 - the worst selling mainline Gran Turismo game.
9 releases, over how many years? Retail sales over 1 billion, is anywhere between 16-20 million copies depending on the selling price(not all being $60).
It's great it makes money, don't get me wrong, but with the number of releases it's had, for how long it's been an established franchise, it's not really that remarkable.
Well if the sales don't impress you, perhaps the game itself will. For those who haven't played it, you're missing out on of the best racers ever.
It is a fantastic racing game, even if you aren't a huge fan of racing games, it's a lot of fun. I will keep supporting this series. Not the biggest sim racing fan so the mainline games I usually pass on, but I've bought FH2 and 3 and got the first one with games with gold and they're great
Sorry if my putting it into perspective hurt people's feelings.
I'm glad it's making money, and the most recent game is excellent, but 1 billion over 9 releases is kind of commonplace for a moderately successful franchise.
@Dealwithit
If Forza did all that, I'd be impressed.
But for the most part, I'd not be gushing over the sales of any game, with 9 releases, that only made 1 billion at retail. At least not in the way some people here are trying to make it into being the best thing ever and indicative of the game being a high end money maker which somehow is indicative of it's quality, which is a separate matter altogether.
My numbers are sound, and while I find it wonderful that it's a successful franchise, I think too many people are looking at the number, without actually thinking about the rest of the picture.
But, if it makes you all feel better, I'll give you a freebie. 1 billion in retail sales doesn't include digital. So since you all think that Xbox somehow has a 2:1 digital vs retail attach rate, then you can run with Forza having made 3 billion.
"I'm glad it's making money"
You sure? You sure don't sound it lmao. Go play the game. It's wicked. Downplaying the sales aside, this a classic and the best racer this gen.
at the same time when you see what x1 owners have to play....
but yeah, something for you guys to justify the purchase,huh?
Lol. The best. Much like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. There are a few good ones out there, including GT, however this is Forza's moment, so I will try not to take away from it. With that said, Congratulations, Turn10!
Overload
Driveclub sold over 3 million. It sold nearly 2.5m physical and with the f2p version it did huge digital numbers. DC is a 3m seller, and well deserved.
Septic
It's funny how u think Driveclub is a terrible game bc of the disastrous launch. If u really were the gaming aficionado u claim you'd know that Driveclub is a different game now. A dramatically improved game and a great racer. Don't act like your not referring to Driveclub in your comments here. U even posted on the PS4 N4G group that Driveclub sucked and Forza is way better. Now i realize it was this article that motivated u to make that comment.
They mad GT isnt the best racer anymore. So how else to get over the frustration than attacking Xbox gamers with bs...Lol.
@Septic
Which one? There are nine games in the franchise. The topic here is about the franchise. If it were about FH3 making one billion at retail, then I'd be thouroughly impressed.
I have played FH3, and several other games in the franchise. But what does that matter to the point I"m trying to make that people are gushing over it, using it as an example of how great FH3 is, while ignoring the fact that it equates to around 112 million on average per release. Is 112 million per game really that amazing?
It's not poor, but as I said, it's not remarkable,or worthy of the correlations to quality that some people are making.
Lol. I like the nice wording of saying the forza franchise is the best selling this generation when there has been a forza game every year since the xbox one release and there'll be a new game(forza 7) this year. Gran turismo sport will outsell them all and be the best driving simulator.
With the lists of third and second party games coming I can wait out First party games. I see it a insurance of a steady flow of titles that has already been implemented by Microsoft and it`s fellow developers. This summrer was the best summer I have experienced in gaming history and is shaping up to be the hottest year. I got 9 games with a 10th coming next week. Splinter Cell!
this game was listed on play.com as released on nov 3rd. gutted
they really dissapointed me by delaying this, it has not got very much good press, but I have faith, this game better rock