It’s becoming more and more common to see a game that was released a few years ago become unplayable, followed by the servers being shut down shortly thereafter (when this results in a completely unplayable game, there’s a bigger problem: think The Crew…).

The game in question has already partially disappeared from Steam, for example, as the DLCs for Forza Horizon 4 are no longer available for purchase due to the expiration of their licenses. Microsoft didn’t want to extend the contract, so the Playground Games creation has already been partially removed, followed by the removal of the entire game from stores in December. The final Festival Playlist, which launched yesterday, will run until August 22nd, after which the playlist screen will no longer be available, only a list of past events. Daily and Weekly Challenges will still be available, and completing them will earn Forzathon points that can be used to earn Backstage Passes and access to an ever-changing selection of cars.

Attention Forza Horizon 4 players!

We have an important announcement regarding how FH4’s Festival Playlist will work after Series 77 (from July 25 until August 22) and its availability in digital stores after December 15.

Please, read the complete update here:… pic.twitter.com/sFrZU5sjOq

— Forza Horizon (@ForzaHorizon) June 25, 2024

Only the basic, Deluxe, and Ultimate versions of Forza Horizon 4 are available today until December 15, when they will be removed from Steam and the Microsoft Store. Currently, the game can be purchased for $14 on Valve’s digital store, and according to Playground Games, which is currently developing the Fable reboot, the game will be marked down on the Microsoft Store on July 14. The question, of course, is how long the servers and access will last. The Crew was pulled from stores in December and then became unplayable in the spring. Playground says it will remain available for download, with its offline, online and multiplayer features intact.

Forza Horizon 4 isn’t that old a game, having been released for Xbox One and PC in October 2018, and was one of the Xbox Series launch titles in November 2020. So it’s not that the game is so old that it’s in an unsustainable state, it’s just that Microsoft doesn’t want to spend money on it. Let the suckers buy the newer one, huh?

Source: PCGamer