《極限競速：地平線6》將在5月19日發售，但現在已經有不少玩家提前玩到遊戲了。
事情的起因是，遊戲的Steam文件庫遭到泄露，目前完整的遊戲已經可以在各大盜版網站下載，遊戲內容也開始在社交媒體平台瘋傳。
某種程度上來說，這可能是近年來遊戲行業里最混亂的一次泄露事故：
前兩天，黑客情報社區VX-Underground爆料稱，《極限競速：地平線6》泄露因為微軟在Steam上傳遊戲版本時出現了操作失誤，將預載版設置成了可公開訪問版本，這一說法隨後迅速在玩家社區和媒體報道中傳播開來。
Big shout-out to the homies at Microsoft for accidentally publishing Forza Horizon 6 on Steam early Microsoft corrected the issue but it was too late. Stinky internet nerds yanked it and now it's all over piracy sites Very cool, Microsoft.
就在昨天，官方否認了「錯誤設置預載版」這一說法，強調此次事件與預載機制無關，只不過微軟與開發商 Playground Games都沒有進一步解釋具體泄露原因。
但比起查清泄露源頭，更快到來的卻是官方的封禁動作：前兩天，開發商Playground Games先是封禁了一批發布提前遊玩影片的博主，並發布公告，表示將對所有提前登錄該版本的玩家採取嚴厲封禁措施，包括對整個系列IP的封禁以及硬體封禁。
遊戲的官方X賬號還發了一條推文，提到「祝所有擁有高級版的玩家們極限競速周快樂，本周將一同暢玩《極限競速：地平線6》！標準版玩家們，我們迫不及待想在下周見到你們！」
隨後話鋒一轉，調侃道：「至於那些過於興奮、決定提前幾天進入遊戲的人——我們迫不及待想在9999年12月31日見到你們！！！」
在這條推文下方，官方引用了一張已經遭到封禁的YouTuber的截圖，進一步強調了官方正在嚴厲處理提前遊玩與傳播相關內容的態度。
HAPPY FORZA WEEK... ...to all those with premium edition who will be joining us this week! Standard edition players, we can't wait to see you next week!! To those who got a little overexcited and decided to play a few days early, we can't wait to see you on 31st December 9,999!!!
這種高調且帶有「殺雞儆猴」意味的處理方式，卻在玩家社區中引發了反感。尤其在之前的消息傳播中，不少人認為這次泄露事件本身就是官方操作失誤導致的，如今對提前進入遊戲的玩家採取封禁措施，無異於是遷怒於人。
Guys, I get this is an uncomfortable possition to find yourselves in, it could really ruin the launch, it's a shit show and I know there have been a lot of people who pre-purchased crying for bans for everyone accessing the game early, but is that really the right call? Many who are already playing have pre-purchased already, those who were never going to buy the game anyway would end up pirating in the end as well. I don't think such extreme bans will do you any good, it's not a good PR move, it's not even a good business move. A heartfelt apology, even if it was going to be memed for a while, would still be better and a week after release everyone would forget about this. But like this, you'll have people bringing this situation up for years to come and it might damage the brand a lot more. You do you at the end of the day, who am I to tell you what to do. That's just my opinion, tried to present it as respectfully as I can. I have no horse in this race, I did not touch the leak, I have the Premium version waiting, I am fine with waiting for my early access, but were this to happen say 10 years ago, even if I already had the game like now, I'd have probably been with the crows playing already too and getting banned, even thou I already shelled out $120 would make me a lifetime hater.
Why are you punishing the community when it was a fuck up on your behalf?
目前，這場泄露風波仍然處於相當混亂的狀態。至於微軟與開發商 Playground Games 後續是否還會採取進一步措施，目前也還不得而知。
不過，某種程度上來說，《極限競速：地平線》可以說是最不適合玩盜版或離線版的遊戲之一，它最精彩的內容無非每周活動、季節賽事以及長期在線運營內容。與其冒著被封禁8000年的風險，提前一周「搶跑」……不如等正式上線後，再好好享受完整的遊戲內容。
