Playing pirated Forza Horizon 6 can get you banned for 8,000 years

PCWorld reports that a gamer received an 8,000-year ban for playing leaked Forza Horizon 6 files that were prematurely available on Steam in unencrypted form. The player was identified through a YouTube video showcasing early gameplay, resulting in a hardware-linked ban expiring December 31, 9999. This incident highlights severe penalties for unauthorized game access, even when files are easily accessible before official release. Look, I know that everyone reading this is a good little gamer. You'd never acquire a video game through less-than-legitimate means. You certainly wouldn't download a game before it was released, even if said game was posted to Steam unencrypted and an easy target for unscrupulous pirates. Because aside from just being good little gamers, the punishment could be an 8,000-year ban. According to a deleted post on Reddit (spotted by Windows Central), one fan who loaded up the widely available files more than a week before its May 19th release got such a sentence. The hardware-linked ban for their player account was set to expire on December 31st in the year of our lord 9999.