Gamer banned for 7,000 years for leaking Xbox game mocks devs
Overview & Key Takeaways
A Forza Horizon 6 modder known as DVS Squad quickly overcame a ban from Playground Games instituted across the entire racing franchise
On Monday, Forza Horizon 6 studio Playground Games laid down the law and banned a number of players who allegedly leaked footage of the racing game a week before its official launch. The consequence itself wasn't surprising — but the severity of it was. Leakers were hit with a ban set to last 7,973 years across all Forza games. Yet on that same day, the most prominent Forza Horizon 6 leaker uploaded more footage of himself driving around in a game he wasn't supposed to be able to play.
In a seven-minute video, DVS Squad, the account behind the kerfuffle, went into further detail about what actually happened. As he tells it, there was no cheating tool involved in the leak. Overall, though, the video is mostly about how unbothered DVS Squad is by his ban.
"I knew the risk, I simply didn't care," he said. DVS Squad explained he was an experienced Forza modder and would have no trouble at all circumventing the ban. The developers could try and issue a hardware ban, he claimed, and he would know exactly how to overcome it. He asserts that he's been banned before, and it hasn't stopped him from continuing to enjoy the game. If this time is different, he says it's because he didn't care enough to blur out his gamertag.
"I'm kind of glad because it just gives my channel more attention," the modder said.
While the 7,973-year ban did cost him the account shown in the leaked footage, DVS Squad says that it merely means he lost progression — which he can easily boost on a fresh account. "I'm free to play online as much as I want, and there's nothing they can do to really stop it," he said.
Hilariously, the video isn't all potshots at Playground Games. DVS Squad takes the time to defend the upcoming racing game against people who thought the graphics in his video weren't up to par. According to DVS Squad, he wasn't playing Forza Horizon 6 on the highest settings.
"It may look choppy, but trust me, when the game comes out or if you played the game, you already know the game is absolutely stunning," he said.
The end of the video almost sounds like a review. During this portion of the footage, DVS Squad says he's pretty happy about the state of the game even if Playground Games didn't bring too many new ideas into the fold.
"I would recommend the game 100% if you're a fan of the franchise, and you like racing games and playing Forza, this is probably in the top three," he said, before revealing that he planned to upload more in-game trolling videos.
Playground Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Polygon. We'll update this story when the company responds.
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