Forza Motorsport 7 will shortly be no more, as Microsoft moves the game into end of life status this September.
Seven weeks from now, on September 15, Microsoft will remove FM7 and all of its associated DLC from all online storefronts and the Xbox Game Pass service. This means that, as of that date, players won’t be able to purchase the game or any content digitally — though anyone who has already purchased the base game and any DLC will still be able to download it.
With the game’s availability on Game Pass, some players may have bought add-on DLC but not the base game itself. Microsoft will distribute tokens to those players through to August 2 to allow them to continue playing with their DLC purchases. However, don’t rush to pick the DLC up right now, as that only extends to customers who’d bought any ahead of this announcement!
While the game won’t be available to buy any more, the game’s services will remain accessible. That includes multiplayer and online modes, and Microsoft will continue to support FM7-based esports series and Rivals events.
Nonetheless, the move comes as something of a surprise. At present, FM7 is the most recent title in the Motorsport series, with the successor title — known only as Forza Motorsport — still in development. It’s unlikely we’ll see the new title until well into 2022 at least, leaving something of a gap without an active title in the series. Of course Forza Horizon 5 will launch this November, but the Horizon games are a very different package.
The official Forza Motorsport Twitter account has provided something of an explanation though: licensing.
While every licensing agreement is different, it simply appears to be the case that some of those that apply to Forza Motorsport 7 — whether gameplay elements like cars and tracks, or even aspects like music — are time-limited, and in this case to four years or less, given the October 2017 launch. Smaller items could be patched out, so it seems likely that this affects larger items like circuits, or even a wide selection of content which is unfeasible to remove.
That could have some implications for Forza Motorsport too. It suggests that Microsoft either hasn’t, or hasn’t been able to, renew licences for some of the affected content, which might affect the cars and tracks available in the next game. However we’ll have to wait and see on that front.
If you haven’t already bought Forza Motorsport 7, Microsoft is offering the title at discounted prices right now and running up until September 15:
- Forza Motorsport 7 Standard Edition: $9.99 (£7.49, €9.99)
- Forza Motorsport 7 Deluxe Edition: $14.99 (£12.49, €12.49)
- Forza Motorsport 7 Ultimate Edition: $19.99 (£17.49, €19.99)
GTPlanet bids a fond farewell to FM7.
This must be one reason why Forza has so many cars compared to other racing games – license lifespans are uncomfortably short and must therefore be cheaper to acquire.
Had bought all the dlc but not the game , but have now and it was only 7 pounds odd.
Late to the game because I prefer Gran Turismo. No, not the abbreviated GTs. And these two are the only ones worth my short cheese cake and I feel jipped.Little more than a year ago I thought I purchased an XBone and FM7 Ultimate after a mean person, in my PS3’s GTA V game play, hacked me through and through… down to my controller. Yeah, I know. Anywho…
It wound up costing me the twice as much ’cause I didn’t know a used copy of the Ultimate version was not usable to unlock the most important dlc to me… the Dodge Demon. Why not disclaim ‘… USED COPIES WILL NOT UNLOCK CERTAIN DLCs…’?So now XBox won’t sell me another 1year subscription to continue my catch up play in GTA V. And now it’ll cost me only a Jackson for an Ultimate edition.I only hope now that GT 7 will be as good as 6 was while I am fully aware of how Kaz and PD like to 2step… backwards.
Oh, yeah. It, licensing, don't matter if own a physical copy and prefer offline play… for now
No game preservation in these ages….
And few will be memorable
Very weird to kill FM7 when there is still no FM8. Licenses shouldnt be an issue, other racing games are still being sold after 4 years, just look at GT Sport. Forza Motorsport isnt really my cup of tea anymore, but it would have been a nice addition for Game Pass users looking for a GT-like game.
An older example but same thing,they pulled driveclub from the psn store for the exact same reason,licensing fees,it’s a guess on my end but looking at the car list that gt sport has compared to say forza 7,the list is made up of very recent cars while gt is still working with the same car list that dates to say 2010 i feel,that was the time when gt 5 came out on ps3,their car list over the years spanning from gt5,6 and gt sport hasn’t changed that much,they still missing alot of brands or models like say for example koenigsegg jesko or ferrarri f-xxk,hopefully i pronounced them correct :)