While we’re still a couple of weeks away from the launch of the next Forza Motorsport title, the Turn 10 team has already confirmed the first steps in its post-launch content updates — starting in November with Yas Marina.
The return of the Abu Dhabi circuit to Forza was confirmed by Forza Motorsport’s general manager Dan Greenawalt and creative director Chris Esaki through an interview with IGN, where the duo touched on several aspects of the title’s support once it’s released.
Yas Marina will just be the start of that strategy, with Greenawalt stating that it’s due as part of the game’s very first “major update” in November. Esaki has since added, via the social media site formerly known as Twitter, that this will be the track’s new layout as used in F1 since 2021:
Following hot on the heels of Yas Marina will be another, unnamed circuit in December, while the already-confirmed Nurburgring Nordschleife will arrive some time in the spring.
The arrival of two new circuits in two successive months suggests that T10 is pursuing a monthly update cycle for Forza Motorsport. Despite this initial pacing, it’s unlikely that each update will contain a track, but for the game to increase its location content by 10% within two months of launch is a good sign for ongoing support.
Crucially, the additional circuit content will be free of charge, at least “for the foreseeable future”. That’s to ensure that the online multiplayer remains an approximately level playing field — aside from any paid DLC vehicles, of course — which is a goal behind a number of changes in this mode.
There’s no specific mention of vehicle content updates in the interview, although we do of course know that the game’s premium 30-vehicle Car Pass will add one vehicle a week, all of which are new to Forza.
However Greenawalt makes some interesting comments about changes to the game’s backend which would allow for not only the addition of but the removal of vehicles where necessary.
That’s something that has had Forza in the headlines for the wrong reasons recently, with no current Motorsport title available to purchase due to the expiration of licensing agreements — widely thought to be down to certain vehicles in the Stellantis brands.
Adding the ability to remove any affected vehicles or tracks — or any of the thousands of licensed items — will prevent that situation occurring again in the future, though T10 has also reworked how it agrees licences in order to make that a last resort.
A lot of the interview centers on Forza Motorsport’s future as a “platform”, with updates adding content across the various modes (including the solo Builders Cup) rather than tacked onto the game.
Esaki notes that dedicated Forza players have thousands of hours of play, but spread over multiple entries in the series. Instead, the team wants to reward players for investing their time by retaining the same platform for several years.
Greenawalt and Esaki are keen to stress that the title won’t be in the Games as a Service (GaaS) mold, although both cite several GaaS titles — DotA, League of Legends, World of Warcraft — as the inspiration for the approach.
However this likely means that the old Forza strategy, launching a new title every two years, is gone. It’s probable then that Forza Motorsport is going to be the only release in the series on the current console generation, and supported by content updates at least until the next Xbox in 2028.
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