Just as Forza Horizon 6 began to build its player community, some found a way to become billionaires overnight.
Unfortunately for them, the celebration didn't last long.
Playground Games confirmed that it has removed huge amounts of credits from the accounts of players who exploited a recently discovered exploit, which allowed them to gain a maximum amount of up to 999,999,999 credits in a very short time. The bug involved the electric GMC Hummer EV and a specific interaction with the Eliminator mode. Once the car was brought into a certain state within the game, the system would start uncontrollably awarding credits, allowing players to practically fill their accounts to the absolute limit overnight. Of course, news of the exploit spread at an incredible speed. It didn't require special skill, didn't ask for expensive equipment, and worked almost every time. In other words, it was the perfect formula for mass exploitation.
Therefore, Playground Games decided to react without delay. All accounts found to have used the exploit were reverted to a maximum of 10 million credits, effectively erasing most of the illegally gained wealth. However, the studio took a relatively lenient stance towards the players. Since the problem arose due to a bug in the game itself, Playground confirmed that there would be no additional penalties, suspensions, or bans on playing.
"The bug was on our side and we do not plan to take further action against players," the studio stated. Along with the removal of the exploit, the Eliminator matchmaking was temporarily disabled until a permanent solution is implemented.
But the financial exploit was not the only issue addressed in the latest patch. Playground also acknowledged that progression through the online Horizon Play mode was significantly slower than planned. Due to incorrect XP values, some estimates suggested that reaching level 100 and unlocking the achievement "Maxed Out" could take up to a thousand hours of gameplay.
After the patch, the situation changed significantly. Players who were at level 32 at the time of the patch's release were automatically transferred to level 100 and immediately received the achievement without additional grinding. Additionally, popular drag tires, which had proven to be unrealistically effective outside of drag races, were balanced. In some situations, they were the best choice even for classic road races, which was never their intended purpose. As a result, Playground adjusted their performance and confirmed that some leaderboard results achieved with the help of drag tires would likely be removed in the future.
Although such issues are common in large online games, the speed of the response shows that Playground takes the maintenance of balance within the economy and competitive aspect of the game seriously. And for all those who thought they had found a way to a billion credits effortlessly - it seems they will have to get back behind the wheel and earn them the old-fashioned way.
