Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 to Require a Microsoft Account - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 09 March 2025 / 6,336 Views
Publisher Xbox Game Studios and developer Playground Games are set to launch the open-world racing game, Forza Horizon 5, next month on the PlayStation 5.
It has been confirmed the game will require a Microsoft account in order to play, according to the FAQ on the game's website. The game will support crossplay on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.
"Yes, in addition to a PSN account you’ll need to link to a Microsoft account in order to play Forza Horizon 5 on PS5," reads the FAQ. "This process begins the first time you start up the game on your console."
To link an account the FAQ states, "On launch of the game, you will be asked to sign-in with your Microsoft account –sometimes referred to as the Xbox Live services that are a part of your Microsoft account – and link it to the PlayStation Network account you are currently logged into the PS5 console.
"Linking a Microsoft account to a PSN account is on a title-by-title basis and permanent. Players have the ability to unlink the Microsoft account to that PSN account, for Forza Horizon 5, but will be constrained to relinking to only that specific and originally linked, Microsoft account."
Forza Horizon 5 will launch for the PlayStation 5 on April 29.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
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Minecraft on PS4/5 has required this for years.
Nothing new
And Sea of Thieves
This is how I felt when HD2 and then other PS gams required PSN for me on PC/Steam.
It's all about the ecosystem these days, that's all I'm going to say.
Nonsense, but expected.
This is no knock specifically on Microsoft, since almost everything these days requires you to log in/be online to play it... but I'm sure glad all I play is pre-2005 consoles these days. Freeing myself of this sort of nonsense and hassle was the greatest thing I've done in many years.
Guess I'm not playing it. My Microsoft account is permanently locked.
Well that's nonsense, especially the part about it being permanent etc. I guess I'm not too surprised though.
Obviously :)
DRM is evolving
Even for offline play? I thought companies were learning from other companies mistakes? Well, guess we'll see with the new Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft love their account stuff.
I dont believe Forza is playable offline.
Then it sucks balls
Yeah, yo right, Ignore the 92 meta and it's RGOTY awards, it's online, online games can't be good.
You have some brown around your lips and smells like phil. I played this game already from the free month of Gamepass that came with the Laptop. Big fat meh. Mediocrity is often rewarded.
Good for you. I think the majority who have played it say otherwise.
You might want to rub the brown off your face from the flock of hating sheep's backside. ;)
It kind of makes sense and is better for gamers, if you technically buy something game related like a skin/car pack etc it is linked to your MS account (aswell) so you can in the future play it on a total other platform and still have your stuff thanks to your ms account.
But it should be optional.
The game is an MMO, you cannect to a server and join a map filled with other racers.
The footage I've seen from Forza Horizon 4 indicates that you can very well play it alone and have fun, so unless the limited amount of content I've seen skews my perception or this one differs significantly from the previous game, there's zero reason to require an account. Obviously if you don't use an account, you miss out on something, but based on my understanding it seems like a reasonable tradeoff.
That's FH4, this is FH5 which focuses on MP and cross-ply.
Don't like it, you can always play GT7.
You literally don't believe MS will give you a live service game without an Xbox account. You needed it for Sea of Thieves. It would be expected, just like if Helldivars 2 went to Xbox, a PSN would be required.
I see. Anyway, I don't have a PS5 at the moment, although that could change at some point. I might get GT7 if it ever comes to PC, but it's not like I don't have a backlog anyway, including some supposedly good racing games. Of course Forza Horizon has an open world as a distinguishing feature, but again, account requirement. Not a terrible situation for me personally, but I can make some noise anyway.
If you game on PC, you most likely already have an MS account which FH5 links to Steam also.
I have many accounts, I just disagree with requiring them by principle and also because they usually mean that someone has to actively support the game and can pull the plug any time. For the record, I also objected strongly to Sony requiring a PSN account for many of its PC releases despite having owned almost every PS console before the PS5.
I agree with you, however for live service games, this is expected. If this was a SP off-line game, I would be upset since it's not necessary. It's like playing WoW, you need a Battle.net account.
Well, I guess I'm complaining about what I think the game could probably be fairly easily but chooses to not be. I don't think you need a subscription of any kind for this on consoles anyway, so I guess you can't really call this a multiplayer-only game either?
It's a racing game that's designed to run on a server. It's focused on MP even through you can play Solo.
Well then it's poorly designed from a player perspective. I'm sure it makes sense for Microsoft but it doesn't for me.
If you don't like MP games, it's not for you. MP games can only be played online.
That's nonsense. Clearly neither Microsoft nor Sony thinks it's a multiplayer game, because you can play it without a subscription.
Focuses on MP and cross-ply, what no radials how old are these cars? 😊
Sucks, but not surprising in this era.
This is an Xbox.
Not a big deal. It's one thing like with Helldivers 2 which was being sold in countries not supporting PSN or Overwatch 2 which had a ridiculous authorization process, but that's not an issue here.
This is news worthy?
Well, not gonna buy it then. That settles it. I guess they want to fluff up their Live sub numbers with this crap.
Of course.
You think they are putting it on PS for laughs?
The Trojan Horse Strategy continues..
