Forza Horizon 4 will be delisted from online stores this year

Yet another Forza game is to be delisted, with the playlist feature to end in August and the whole game being removed from sale in December.

It was inevitable, given what’s happened to all the other Forza games, but Forza Horizon 4 is on the fast-track to becoming an ex-video game, with the title due to be delisted from all digital stores on December 15.

You’ll still be able to play it at that point, and redownload it if you bought it digitally, but nobody will be able to buy it new because licenses for the in-game cars and music are running out and Xbox doesn’t want to pay to renew them.

This is a common problem for all driving games and also means that the when the final season ends on August 22 the Festival Playlist will no longer be updated with new content. You can still play the rest of the game, and daily and weekly challenges, but that will be the end of official support for the game.

Forza Horizon 4 was released in 2018 and is set in the UK. Its fate is shared by all the Forza Motorsport games, except the most recent one, and Forza Horizon 1 through 3.

The modern Gran Turismo games from Sony have gone the same way, with GT Sport and Gran Turismo 6 the most recent victims, since they’re also filled with licensed cars and music.

The official Forza website confirms the news but it’s not only racing games that are prone to the issue. Earlier in the year, the excellent Spec Ops: The Line was erased from online stores because oof unspecified issues with ‘partnership licences.’

A number of superhero games have also been delisted for similar reasons, most notably Activision’s Spider-Man and X-Men games, as well as their Xbox 360 era Transformers games.

There’s nothing stopping publishers from reacquiring licenses and putting games on sale again, as is due to happen soon with Capcom and its Marvel Vs. Capcom games.

For racing games though, which are made largely obsolete by their successors, the expense isn’t deemed worth it. Although that is a shame when it comes to Forza Horizon, since each game is set in a specific country that probably isn’t going to get another go anytime soon.

Forza Horizon 5 is set in Mexico but there’s been no sign of a sixth entry, not least because developer Playground Games is currently working on the reboot of Fable.

Since the series is one of Microsoft’s most popular – overtaking the more serious Forza Motorsport – it seems almost certain there’ll be another one at some point, but it’s unclear if that will mean a new developer taking over.