Forza Horizon 5 knows its players’ real names, which has been taking some newcomers to the series by surprise. However, although it may feel creepy when the game is first booted up, the explanation for Forza Horizon 5’s supposed invasion of privacy is actually incredibly simple. While it doesn’t change the initial shock of seeing one’s full name displayed in the game right off the bat, the player can always change their name, meaning that nothing is set in stone.
Released earlier this month, Forza Horizon 5 is a first-party Microsoft title, developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. Set in a fictionalized open-world video game version of Mexico, Forza Horizon 5 has gotten a lot of praise by critics and fans alike. In fact, even though Forza Horizon only launched two weeks ago, it’s been nominated for three categories at this year’s Game Awards.
As good as Forza Horizon 5 is, it’s not immediately apparent how it knows the player’s real name. Luckily, the explanation for how the game has such personal information about its users makes a lot of sense. For those worried, the game isn’t actually stalking the player, which should provide some level of comfort.
Why Forza Horizon 5 Knows & Uses Players' Real Names
Depending on a player’s previous experience with Microsoft and Xbox, Forza Horizon 5 might not have access to one’s full name because the game is actually pulling that information from the player’s Xbox Live account. As a result, not everyone will have their full name displayed in Forza Horizon 5, but for those who have told Xbox Live their name, the game will automatically input that name into the game. While it might be nice for Forza Horizon 5 to tell the players where that information comes from so it doesn’t seem like the game is spying on everyone, it’s actually not quite as scary as it appears.
There should be no worries for those users who don’t want their name in the game, though - Forza Horizon 5 does let players change their in-game name at any minute, even if they’ve input their name into their Xbox Live account. So if they prefer a username instead of their real one, this is the way to go. It might feel like an invasion of privacy, but it does make sense that a first-party Microsoft game would be able to pull information from Xbox Live, and at least players are able to change it if desired.