Microsoft concedes defeat to Valve; Forza Horizon 4 coming to Steam March 9th

https://www.pcgamer.com/forza-horizon-4-is-coming-to-steam-next-month/

Forza Horizon 4 is heading to Steam on March 9. The game has been available on PC for a while, including through Xbox Game Pass, but this will be the first Forza game to make its way over to Valve's store.

The Steam version will include cross-play, allowing players to race against Xbox, Windows 10, and Android owners of the game. Expansions Fortune Island and LEGO Speed Champions will be available to purchase on release day, as well as the Barrett-Jackson car collab and James Bond themed-car pack. There's a Hot Wheels car pack on the way too, though the release date is currently unknown.

Forza Horizon 4 has seen a fair few updates since its 2018 release, including battle royale-inspired mode The Eliminator. The end of last year brought about Super7, a mode focused around user-created stunt challenges, which also included aCyberpunk 2077-themed car.

Wow, first Microsoft tried to force PC players to get Games for Windows Live. Then they tried to get PC players to pay for online. Then they tried to get them to come to the Microsoft store. It just didn't work. And now MS is bringing their games to Steam. Thoughts, SW? Is this a concession from MS or are they just trying to port their games to everything at this point (Nintendo, Sony next?)

Such a desperate company. Really is frustrating to see them in this state.

No really. lol :P

I read they're down to their last Trillion.

Nice, I'll but it there if I wind up canceling gamepass

Wouldn’t be the first. Flight simulator 2020 is on steam as well. So is MCC I believe.

New Microsoft games have been launching on Steam since Gears 5. Halo Infinite already has a Steam page. This is not new.

The only question is whether they would bother porting pre-Gears 5 releases to Win32 to launch on Steam. FH4 arriving on Steam is an encouraging sign, but it could also just be a one off. Porting apps built from the ground up in UWP is not an insignificant task. Also, bodes well for future Forza games.

Anyway, 50/50 chance I might buy it. FH4 is the only Windows Store game I have installed right now, so I'm quite tempted to wash my hands of the Windows Store altogether. I'm done with FH3 long time ago.

Microsoft have been releasing games on Steam for a while! Is this news to you or just desperate for something the bash them about?

Which will be gone in a year from just paying out devs for having their games on the gamepass, an unwanted service. Who could've thought of MS dissapearing before Nintendo? Not i.

They may be able to do to Gears what they did with the Master Chief Collection. I am curious though if FH4 actually has better online connectivity than it did played through UWP. I could hardly ever connect to an online session because of some stupid framework Microsoft used to fake IPV6 formats over an IPV4 connection that wouldn't work with native IPV6. So unable to have stable online gameplay, I stopped trying to play FH4.

Doubt it. Microsoft games on Steam still connect to Xbox Live, at the very least for stats tracking, though I heard it's a bit more variable in terms of multiplayer. And anyway, I doubt they would put any more effort into this than a straight 1-to-1 port.

I thought it was already.

That's what I am thinking as well, it'd be the same matchmaking.

Great I guess, I don't buy MS games myself.

They've published a ton of games on Steam.

They need to just put all of their games on steam and add Game Pass like EA did with EA Play.

I suspect their subscriptions would see a huge jump

Umm, this isn’t exactly new. 😅

Anyway I think it’s great as it means I’ll have even more people to play against in online games. Making games multi platform and cross play enabled is great for the gaming community.

Soooo... what exactly? Those who refused to use the Windows Store to play this for last couple years, who could have played this and hundreds of other games for $1 or $5 per month (until more recently), that all that wait amounts to them being able to pay full AAA price for a game that came out two years ago on a different PC distributor. Who wins here? The whiney people who act like they have an imaginary MSG allergy to using Windows Store or Game Pass? **Pfft** Suckers.

And watch the game be a top seller on Steam. PC gamers rather buy games on Steam than get them all bundled in a subscription service. Meaning this will be another example of Xbox leaving money in the table. At some point, the accountants over there are gonna start asking more questions. They already tried to raise the XBL price...

The Forza Horizon series is amazing, and anyone who hasn't checked these game because they weren't on Steam: now is your chance!

@lamprey263: People play and spend their money however they preferer but as someone who subscribes to Gamepass it is a bit comical.

@goldenelementxl: Ask what questions? They are one of the richest companies in the world I don’t think the accountants give a shit about a few games not on steam maybe in your odd head it’s a thing

@SolidGame_basic: Much like the mantra that made them one of the biggest companies in the world - "The money is in the software, not the hardware".

I like the MS ecosystem better than the stand alone Playstation world. But, MS will port their games almost everywhere to maximize sales - to them, selling a game on a single platform is dumb.

But, I still say that MS did not pay billions for Zenimax to make Fallout and Elder Scrolls games for Playstation.

May wanna fix the title. Forza 4 and forza horizon 4 are completely different games.

LMAO MS looks so desperate now lol. I never thought I would ever see the xbox gaming division grasping for air like this. I guess selling a total of 35mil xbox 1 , s and x would make any company sell their souls to Steam. It such a sad day for the xbox gaming division, May it rest in peace.

@Duckyindiana: What do you mean, “what questions?” What about, “why are we leaving millions of dollars on the table trying to make this Microsoft Store thing happen?”

More money!!!

To be honest, I always thought FH4 was already on Steam. I already play it through GP, so I never bother to see if its on Steam.

Id buy an X if that were to happen.

PC is one platform. Releasing in different stores is irrelevant.

the PC gamers who see the value in Game Pass are supporting the Microsoft Store via their subscriptions..

the PC gamers who prefer Steam are paying full retail prices for 1st party Xbox Games Studios titles..

this has been the case for a long time now, with games like Halo: MCC, Sea of Thieves, Gears 5, Gears Tactics, and more.. this isn't new and sounds more like "the best of both worlds" rather than "money left on the table".. care to elaborate?..

Since Sony conceded defeat to EGS that the world hasn't seen anything as serious. What a historic moment.

How is it news that MS are putting games on steam.

Forza Horizon 4 came out over 2 years ago. The game will likely hit the "best sellers" list on Steam when it releases there. That means there's likely 100K+ people that will rather pay for FH4 than subscribe to Game Pass or buy the game on the Microsoft store. The "money left on the table" refers to all those sales that could have happened in 2018... And the game being on Steam at launch would have more sales potential that it will over 2 years later. And is the game selling at $60 on Steam?

These moves to put games on Steam is showing us that the games aren't doing the numbers they want them to on Game Pass or the Microsoft Store. So now Xbox is willing to bring in less revenue in order to get more eyes on the game. Why not just launch on Steam day 1? This continues to be a trend all these years later. Game Pass and Microsoft Store aren't making any meaningful penetration on PC. Especially when a single Switch game can bring in more revenue that all Xbox first party games AND subscription revenue COMBINED on PC AND consoles.

They've been doing this for a little while. MCC was released on Steam, as well as SoT, Quantum Break, Flight Simulator, Grounded, Ori, State of Decay and probably more.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1151640/Horizon_Zero_Dawn_Complete_Edition/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1190460/DEATH_STRANDING/

As a Gamepass subscriber I'm all for MS releasing all their games on every platform is that helps them pay for my gaming.

wow, you're really reaching with this one..

not every game released day one in Steam.. in fact, a lot have launched in Steam retroactively simply because those games released before Microsoft started supporting Steam as a standard.. what's most important is that all current and future Xbox Games Studios titles are releasing into Steam day-and-date alongside Microsoft Store on PC and console.. which means there's no "money left on the table" and destroys the entire premise of your "concern"..

so tell me, is Sony leaving "money on the table" by not supporting Steam on day one with their software?..

if yes, then why are you trying to critique Microsoft on this issue when they are the only ones actually putting their games on Steam day-one?.. if no, then please explain why only Microsoft is "leaving money on the table" by putting Forza Horizon 4 on Steam years after release but Sony somehow isn't when they put Horizon: Zero Dawn on Steam years after its release as well?..

as far as Nintendo is concerned, they aren't competing directly with either Microsoft or Sony.. not sure why you're having such a hard time with this simple truth.. they are doing their own thing with a completely different strategy..

Xbox is done. Apple will probaly buy them

What are cows complaining about. Sony games are on steam too.

And you don't need Windows store to deal with MS games. You can just manage them through the new version of the Xbox app.

On top of that, the steam version isn't that useful imo, because no gamepass. The only thing that interested me about the steam version was when I was using the steam link.

All this nonsense, looking for something to be mad about. "oh noes, more options".

@goldenelementxl: The PC version of Gamepass needs a bigger library. It's not ready to make a big impact on the PC yet.

Gamepass is not static. It's a constantly evolving service. MS has been playing the long game to get to this point since 2016. It's not an "either it works or it doesn't" thing.

MS is moving away from singular hardware, to services. And they make a ton of money to enable them to play the long game.

@HalcyonScarlet: I understand what Xbox is doing. I really do. But when you have single games from Nintendo out earning all of the 1st party Xbox games AND service revenue combined, across console AND PC, it really puts what Xbox is offering into perspective. “They aren’t competing against each other.” I know, but could you imagine how embarrassing that would be for Xbox if they were?

Cool. I'm planning to get this once I've mostly completed FH3. Guess now I'll have choices where to buy it.

@judaspete: FH4 is incredible. If you’re a fan of the series, you won’t be disappointed

Nope, it's platform wars now. We see this from people hating on EGS.

@SolidGame_basic: Yes we must not let hate go to waste!