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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

As these games now have a very small player population, we'll be closing online services for Forza Horizon 1 and Forza Horizon 2 on August 22, 2023 so that we can focus on our most current games. Please note that due to the age of these games and their services, access to online functionality even prior to the official closure date is not guaranteed.

While the single-player experience in both games will remain playable, any online functionality such as matchmaking, leaderboards and the browsing and downloading of online User Generated Content (UGC) including liveries, vinyls, tuning setups, and photos will not be available from August 22, 2023.

We know our community has fond memories of exploring Colorado and Southern Europe in Forza Horizon 1 and 2, from meeting new friends on road trips to sharing liveries, photos and tunes, and we thank you all for your incredible passion, support and dedication over the last decade.

More at: https://forza.net/news/forza-horizon-online-services-closure

 

[joeygreco1985]

It's odd for MS to close down game servers like that, they usually don't.

 

[acm2000]

i assumed they had shut years ago not gonna lie

 

[01011001]

It's odd for MS to close down game servers like that, they usually don't.

Halo 3 and Reach got shut down, but I think in that case you can still play private online matches, just no matchmaking anymore.

I wonder if that's the case here too... maybe private races will still work? we'll see

 

[adamsapple]

It's odd for MS to close down game servers like that, they usually don't.

I'm surprised they kept them up this long. FH1 is a decade + old.

The 'campaigns' should still work offline for these older games, I reckon.

 

[Bridges]

These games have been delisted for years which I imagine plays a big factor in this.

Always sucks to see this happen but I'm honestly surprised they kept the servers up for this long on games they can't even sell anymore.

 

[Robochobo]

Forza Horizon 2 will always have a place in my heart. IMO the best FH game (3 is really close). Countless days spent goofing around with friends and just enjoying the French countryside. Definitely the gold standard on how a sequel should improve on the original.

 

[Codes 208]

It's odd for MS to close down game servers like that, they usually don't.

Well FH1 is a 360 title both it and 2 have been delisted for yeeears. and theyve already downed all of the halo servers so its not that odd

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

It's odd for MS to close down game servers like that, they usually don't.

Are you forgetting they completely removed Forza Motorsport 7 after barely 4 years without even a sequel on the horizon at the time? This is what baffles me that they kept Horizon 1 alive for so long but F7 got removed as fast as it arrived.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Are you forgetting they completely removed Forza Motorsport 7 after barely 4 years without even a sequel on the horizon at the time? This is what baffles me that they kept Horizon 1 alive for so long but F7 got removed as fast as it arrived.

FM7 still works online.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

FM7 still works online.

Well like I said, its a fairly new game so cutting out servers from a 360 era game is no surprise. Who even plays FH 1 online nowadays? But my point is, they are willing to remove a huge AAA game after only 4 years, me as a newer xbox owner, I cant buy it anymore unless I hunt for physical release. Shutting down servers for a 20 year old game...is this news worthy or something to be mad about?

 

[StereoVsn]

"While the single-player experience in both games will remain playable" - this won't work with Forza 8 down the line unfortunately (and GT7).

Fuck always online online requirements where it's absolutely not needed.

I do understand reason to close this down as these are some old titles and that's fine.

 

[Kilau]

Didn't seem like FH1 was still online, got errors when I tried recently.

 

[Futaleufu]

Being unable to download tuned settings for a particular car is the biggest loss here

 

[Fess]

Are these games fps boosted or still 30fps?

 

[01011001]

Are these games fps boosted or still 30fps?

still 30 sadly... even Horizon 3, which has a PC port, never got 60fps on console

 

[Larxia]

As these games now have a very small player population

Well duh, you delisted the games so...

I imagine it won't be too long before this happens to Horizon 3 too sadly. It's a shame because I really don't like what the series became since 4. They are such weird games now, they try to be so accessible that you don't even have to do anything really, you instantly have access to everything, you get gold medal even if you arrive at last place, it's... just really strange and not interesting to play.

 

[01011001]

Well duh, you delisted the games so...

I imagine it won't be too long before this happens to Horizon 3 too sadly. It's a shame because I really don't like what the series became since 4. They are such weird games now, they try to be so accessible that you don't even have to do anything really, you instantly have access to everything, you get gold medal even if you arrive at last place, it's... just really strange and not interesting to play.

Forza 8 seems to go in the right direction, and I hope Horizon 6 also reboots that series and tones down the "here take these 83738 super wheelspins! oh and here are 20 hyper cars we gift you cuz you drove 10KM today!" shit

 

[fatmarco]

So do the downloaded liveries we have disappear?

 

[KuraiShidosha]

And this bullshit right here is why I am such a huge proponent of dedicated server executables being released with games as they always were throughout the 90s and 00s. They allow players to keep a game alive beyond the publisher's desired lifespan. You can launch Half Life today and still find servers with people playing on them, that's a 25 year old game. These companies are quite intentionally not releasing them anymore starting around 2010 and beyond because they know if users cling to a better, older game they are less likely to buy the new rehash. Their solution is to artificially kill them off and rip it from our hands to force us into a position where the only way to continue enjoying a certain kind of game is to buy the new iteration of said game series. It's disgusting, anti consumer practice and I'm sick of seeing it.

 

[CanUKlehead]

Ok

And this bullshit right here is why I am such a huge proponent of dedicated server executables being released with games as they always were throughout the 90s and 00s. They allow players to keep a game alive beyond the publisher's desired lifespan. You can launch Half Life today and still find servers with people playing on them, that's a 25 year old game. These companies are quite intentionally not releasing them anymore starting around 2010 and beyond because they know if users cling to a better, older game they are less likely to buy the new rehash. Their solution is to artificially kill them off and rip it from our hands to force us into a position where the only way to continue enjoying a certain kind of game is to buy the new iteration of said game series. It's disgusting, anti consumer practice and I'm sick of seeing it.

So are you still playing FH1?

 

[RobRSG]

Last time I checked no liveries were available for download on Forza Horizon 2.

 

[M1chl]

Why the fuck would they do that, it is running in containers and it does not waste any resources if no one is playing, fucking MS, I hoped that this never happens.

Besides Forza Horizon 2 came few years ago

 

[KuraiShidosha]

Ok

So are you still playing FH1?

You think this is some kind of corporate dick sucking "ah hah gotcha" but it isn't. This is a general problem affecting the entire industry and Forza is just one of many games that is affected by it. It's not about specifically this game or that game, it's about all games having the necessary files released so the community can keep them alive if they so choose to. Stop defending shitty corporate moves and trying to one up a fellow gamer who just wants what's best for consumers. It's a bad look.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Surprised that they were still working. Weren't those games delisted? I wonder how many people were using those online services.

 

[scarlet0pimp]

Shame because 2 is the best version of the game.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Why the fuck would they do that, it is running in containers and it does not waste any resources if no one is playing, fucking MS, I hoped that this never happens.

Besides Forza Horizon 2 came few years ago

The game came out 10 years ago...what are you on about "few years ago".

 

[M1chl]

The game came out 10 years ago...what are you on about "few years ago".

I hope the gif illustrated the situation and that the second part of my post was sarcasm

 

[xrnzaaas]

Surprised that they were still working. Weren't those games delisted? I wonder how many people were using those online services.

Delisting a game doesn't mean that the community immediately abandons it and it doesn't have to mean that the servers go down as well. Heck, new players may still join in from massive deals prior to the removal and there are still new/used retail copies in circulation.

And if the community is in fact much smaller then keeping the servers up shouldn't be that costly... no way of defending what MS is doing here.

 

[Ceadeus]

if it was playstation, they would have close servers a week after release