FORZA HORIZON SERIES

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Off-road vehicles race up a snowy, mountainous trail at sunset, kicking up clouds of snow and dirt as they speed past rocks and rugged terrain.
A red Nissan Skyline racing car with black detailing and a large front splitter is parked on a sunlit city street lined with shops and Japanese signs.
A group of rally cars race through a sunlit, forested dirt road, kicking up dust as they speed round a curve surrounded by tall trees and autumn foliage.

Overview

Sumo Digital has built a lasting relationship with Playground Games over 13 years, through our contributions to their flagship IP, Forza Horizon, most recently Forza Horizon 5 and Forza Horizon 6. Our involvement has ranged from co-development and porting, leveraging our driving game expertise in one of the industries biggest franchises.

The Ask

Having been entrusted by Playground Games to be the first external developer to port a Forza Horizon title to PC, for Forza Horizon 5, we established a seamless working relationship and deep understanding of their proprietary tech and processes.

Due to our successful collaboration, we worked extremely closely with Playground Games to support Forza Horizon 6, delivering their groundbreaking new title to critical and commercial acclaim.

Project Details

Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5 Genre: Driving Partner: Playground Games, Xbox Game Studios Service: Co-Development, Porting, Visual Development Engine: Proprietary  
A silver sports car speeds down a wet, dark road in rainy weather, with another blue car following behind. Rain droplets and motion blur emphasise the high-speed, intense driving scene. Cacti line the roadside.

Our Involvement

Content Creation and Co-Development: Forza Horizon 5

  • Designed and implemented unique tracks and event setups.
  • Took ownership of a sub-region, fully populating its environment.
  • Vehicle and Lighting work to support Barn Finds.
  • Created character outfits and integrated ambient creatures for added immersion.
  • Produced and balanced vehicles for optimal gameplay.
  • Developed UI concepts and icons to enhance player experience.

Porting and Technical Integration: Forza Horizon 5

  • Delivered the Steam port of Forza Horizon 5.
  • Ported network code from UWP/Live to Win32.
  • Implemented Xbox Live integration in the Steam build.
  • Enabled account linking and cross-play between Steam and Xbox platforms.
  • Ported DLC handling to Steam.
A vibrant car race with motion-blurred sports cars speeding past a Horizon Festival Mexico sign, set against a mountainous landscape, hot air balloons, cacti, and festival tents at sunset.
A yellow sports car with illuminated rear lights speeds through a city street at night, surrounded by blurred lights and buildings, whilst another car follows closely behind.

Lighting: Forza Horizon 6

  • Created emissive and lightmap textures, both raw and as swatches in the game engine.

  • Developed source files for potential re-bakes in 3ds-Max.

  • Corrected UV maps to support the detail/texel density required per asset.

  • Hi-poly reconstructions of light sources to simulate realistic lighting, modelled to the filament.

Animation and Collaboration: Forza Horizon 6

  • Cleaned numerous character animations files ready for implementation in engine.

  • Continuous reviews and feedback with Playground

  • Created technical documentation around pipelines and workflows for internal teams and Playground.

A silver Porsche drives down a road lined with cherry blossom trees in full bloom. Pink petals fill the air and cover the ground, with a snow-capped mountain visible in the background.

Impact

Our collaboration with Playground Games on the Forza Horizon series demonstrates Sumo’s ability to:

  • Deliver high-quality content for AAA open-world titles, on time and to budget
  • Execute complex technical integrations across multiple platforms.
  • Provide long-term live support to maintain player engagement.
  • Adapt quickly to evolving requirements while ensuring a premium experience for millions of players worldwide.
  • Adapt to proprietary engines with flexibility to align with changing client needs.
  • Seamlessly integrate into established development teams, autonomously delivering to partner expectations.
  • Establish and maintain clear communication, reacting quickly and effectively to feedback and direction.
  • Collaborate with partners to improve outsourcing pipelines and processes.
  • Build lasting relationships based on reliability, scalability and creativity.
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