FM6 Forza Franchise Exceeds $1 Billion Total in Retail Sales

[Paul Jeffrey]

Turn 10 Studios have confirmed that popular racing franchise Forza has recently surpassed $1 billion in retail sales, making the game the most popular racing franchise of all time.

Turn 10 Studios Head Alan Hartman broke the news today to the official Xbox One website, rounding off a incredible period for the series following the successful release of Forza Horizon 3 on both Xbox One and PC for the very first time, and the recent commitment to bring future Forza games to the Windows platform alongside it's traditional Xbox console home.

"Today, we’re excited to share a major milestone – as of December 2016, the Forza franchise has exceeded $1 billion in retail sales.​

This news caps an amazing year. As of December, more than 14 million unique players were involved in the Forza community on Xbox One and Windows 10, the award-winning Forza Horizon 3 sold through 2.5 million units, and Forza continued its run as the best-selling racing franchise of this console generation" Said Turn 10 Studios Head Alan Hartman.​

Many many fans have played one Forza game or another since the title made it's Xbox debut back in 2005, created as a direct rival to the then king of racing games Sony's Gran Turismo. Over the years the franchise has steadily expanded the number of cars and tracks found in game as well as marking itself out as one of the most visually impressive racing titles on the marketplace. With 2015/16 having seen releases for Forza Motorsport 6, Forza Horizon 3 and the PC debut of Forza 6 Apex, it is little wonder that the developers are currently riding on the crest of a wave with the series.

Recent years have seen a progressive decline in the quality of Gran Turismo releases, and with the Sony flagship racing game holding the position as the traditional main rival for Forza titles confidence must remain high at Turn 10. However despite the admittedly impressive sales figures achieved so for by the studio they will need to stay on top form throughout the next couple of years. With stiff competition in the shape of Project CARS 2 and the much anticipated GTR3 due to release before the end of 2018, plus the latest Gran Turismo Sport offering that should eventually break cover at some stage during the coming year, the current status quo could easily be disrupted heading into the next 24 months.

Forza Motorsport 6 is available for Xbox One now. Forza Horizon 3 can be purchased for both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.

​

Check out the Forza Motorsport series of games forum here on RaceDepartment. A place to review the latest news, engage in discussions about Forza games with fellow racing fans and catch up with old Forza friends!

Do you have fond memories from past Forza releases? In your opinion which is the best game in the franchise? Are you surprised to see Turn 10 reach such impressive sales figures? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[TheReaper GT]

One would think that much money could buy a little bit of physics... I guess one would be wrong. :-D

 

[JoeAMGC63]

One would think that much money could buy a little bit of physics... I guess one would be wrong. :-D

Ha - And proper wheel support!

 

[St3fan]

So they definitely had the money to buy Kunos... What a missed opportunity

I'm really not a fan of Xbox One in the current console market, otherwise I would definitely buy FM6 and FH3.

 

[Blkout]

Well deserved. This is the franchise that essentially grew my love for SIM racing. It was also the franchise that effectively killed Gran Turismo's lock on console racing and arguably killed Gran Turismo as a franchise. I enjoyed every Forza all the way back to the original with the original Drivatar technology. I still enjoy every iteration of the franchise even if it's not a true racing sim as most PC racing sims.

 

[Blkout]

One would think that much money could buy a little bit of physics... I guess one would be wrong. :-D

One would think they understand their target audience better than anyone which why they've been so successful. All the great PC sims with their wonderful physics all combined likely won't ever reach 1 billion in sales. Don't hate Turn 10 for making money by giving people what they want. If it's not what YOU want, there's plenty other franchises or games to suit your needs.

 

[Will Mazeo]

One would think that much money could buy a little bit of physics... I guess one would be wrong. :-D

You don't make a bilion with real physics, heck you'll be lucky if you make a few milions with that lol

 

[TheReaper GT]

One would think they understand their target audience better than anyone which why they've been so successful. All the great PC sims with their wonderful physics all combined likely won't ever reach 1 billion in sales. Don't hate Turn 10 for making money by giving people what they want. If it's not what YOU want, there's plenty other franchises or games to suit your needs.

No need to get all worked out bro... it was a joke...I'm sure you are familiar with the concept..

 

[protonv5]

This does prove (unfortunately) that most people do not prefer real sims. Real sims are a lot of work to drive properly, like driving a real race car is. (Imagine that) That's the beauty of a real simulation like say, Assetto. It takes an acute attention span and diligence to slowly reel in the car in front of you over many laps. One wrong move and you're at the back again. This is what I love about true sims. I guess the masses just want to drive around. Just watch 95% of the youtube vids posted up where the driver passes about 18 cars at the green light before he reaches turn 1, then bashes his way past a couple more. Wow, so real Whatever floats their boat. I'm just very glad for the likes of Assetto, R3E etc.

 

[SnappyDEe]

Good for them.

Does anyone know if T10 has fixed the horribly excessive center spring feel on Thrustmaster wheels? I have a TX and the FFB sucks with all the excessive center spring.

 

[Celestiale]

Even if it's not a Sim, i would definitely buy Forza 7, if it would have good FFB and Fanatec pedals support. The brilliant AI (for this type of game) would make it a lot of fun to race offline, and the touch-physics who allow little banging lead to close and fun racing against them, without being too stupid. Nice change of pace when you are too exhausted after a long day, to race in a Sim...

But i am pretty sure it won't have proper FFB...which makes the game not even worth 5 bucks for me

 

[PaulH]

It's a shame there isn't good wheel support on PC, I tried Apex(controller) & it was ok.
Does it support more than one input device yet? i.e. different wheel & pedal set.

 

[Blkout]

No need to get all worked out bro... it was a joke...I'm sure you are familiar with the concept..

Not worked out at all, but that "joke" is extremely long in the tooth.

 

[Shaun Clarke]

The @TheReaper GT beat me to it, but that money money, and physics that are worth pennies come on

 

[billymitchell]

This does prove (unfortunately) that most people do not prefer real sims. Real sims are a lot of work to drive properly, like driving a real race car is. (Imagine that) That's the beauty of a real simulation like say, Assetto. It takes an acute attention span and diligence to slowly reel in the car in front of you over many laps. One wrong move and you're at the back again. This is what I love about true sims. I guess the masses just want to drive around. Just watch 95% of the youtube vids posted up where the driver passes about 18 cars at the green light before he reaches turn 1, then bashes his way past a couple more. Wow, so real Whatever floats their boat. I'm just very glad for the likes of Assetto, R3E etc.

Flip-side to your point: Traditional driving simulators do not provide the same rewards or positive reinforcement that other games provide in the same space of digital entertainment.

I totally agree that practicing to become better with the same car around the same track can be a rewarding experience, but when competing against other sources of entertainment, the sim developers need to make their titles more interesting than they currently are.

 

[JayJayRaceinho]

....and no one cares

 

[TheReaper GT]

Flip-side to your point: Traditional driving simulators do not provide the same rewards or positive reinforcement that other games provide in the same space of digital entertainment.

I totally agree that practicing to become better with the same car around the same track can be a rewarding experience, but when competing against other sources of entertainment, the sim developers need to make their titles more interesting than they currently are.

They can't, if they do, the community gets crazy shouting simcade all over the planet.

 

[Celestiale]

They can't, if they do, the community gets crazy shouting simcade all over the planet.

Nowadays good graphics are enough to trigger that

 

[Cazdad2]

Forza 3 awoke my love of driving games with the wide variety of cars and tracks. I didnt know at the time that they weren't laser scanned and i modded / upgraded the cars to be much faster and better handling then real life, but it was fun. The career / offline mode is also enjoyable for the progression with ability to up AI difficulty as well as adjust what assists you use to make an offline racing difficult enough where winning truly is in doubt. Many other games have caught on, but think Turn 10 has done a good job packaging these abilities.

Now I drive Forza games, AC, iRacing, RRE as well as Dirt Rally, etc (no NFS) and I just have average skill. Most of the true sims have no real, enjoyable career (AC and PCars pretty lack luster, iRacing none whats so ever).

For me if they could add multi controller support, proper triple screen with adjustable FOV that would be something. Add in the physics of iRacing it would be awesome - just about any car in iRacing is drivable at low / medium speed (like real life) going fast takes real effort. A lot of times the higher rated Forza cars are just plain not fun - too over powered.

 

[Gargos]

Good for them.

Does anyone know if T10 has fixed the horribly excessive center spring feel on Thrustmaster wheels? I have a TX and the FFB sucks with all the excessive center spring.

Nope. Wheel is still crap on both the XB1 and Forza Apex on PC. Public lobbies were and still are a disaster. Forza 6 was a waste of money. So much so that I never even considered FH3 as a purchase. I will want to see a demo of Forza 7 before I buy. I don't hold much faith in it, but the recent article I saw with the new guy behind it gives me a LITTLE hope that things will be better in the next game.

Aside from the wheel support, Forza needs to SERIOUSLY revamp its audio department. Listening to the same 3 canned engine sounds in all of the cars got old quick. They weren't even good sounds.