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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