Microsoft has confirmed that Forza Horizon 5 has seen the biggest launch of any Xbox title in the history of the company, with 10 million players jumping into Playground Games' beautifully reimagined Mexican landscape within its first week.

In a tweet from the official Forza Horizon Twitter account (below), the company confirmed that it was the biggest launch for a game in Xbox history, obviously meaning it's broken those records for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Studios games, too.

Thank you to the more than 10M #ForzaHorizon5 fans for the biggest first week in @Xbox history and @XboxGamePass EVER. GG! pic.twitter.com/WXZawEvBkO

— Forza Horizon (@ForzaHorizon) November 19, 2021

Prior to the announcement, Xbox boss Phil Spencer also recently revealed that the game had experienced the largest launch day of any Xbox Game Studios game ever. The open-world racing game amassed over 4.5 million players in its launch week where it also featured peak concurrent player count heights over three times the size of its predecessor Forza Horizon 4.

As with all Xbox Game Studios games, Forza Horizon 5 was released into Xbox's popular subscription service Xbox Game Pass, meaning that subscribers could gain access to the game at no additional cost from day one.

While some have questioned the financial viability of a service like Game Pass, Spencer recently explained that the platform is proving to be "very, very sustainable." That news will likely please those currently signed up to the service – especially if that proves to be the case in a year where Microsoft itself announced that subscriber growth has slowed down.

As Horizon 5 continues to break new records moving forward, Playground Games also recently announced that it is continuing to add elements into the game that will increase inclusivity and make the game more accessible to a wider range of players. On top of its base accessibility features that can currently be found within the racing sim, Horizon 5 is also set to add an on-screen sign language interpreter to the game in a future update.

IGN recently reviewed Forza Horizon 5 where we awarded it a rare score of 10/10 and dubbed it "the best open-world racing game available." For more from the series, make sure to check out our dedicated Forza Horizon 5 IGN page.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

CD Projekt Red has clarified that the studio currently has no plans to bring the game to Xbox Game Pass, despite rumours suggesting that it might be on its way to the subscription service.

In response to speculation (as reported by VGC) that the game may be on its way to Game Pass, CD Projekt Red's Global PR Director, Radek Grabowksi confirmed that this isn't the case.

"I just thought I'll chime in to say that there are no Game Pass plans for Cyberpunk 2077," confirmed Grabowski on the social media platform.

I just thought I'll chime in to say that there are no Game Pass plans for Cyberpunk 2077.

— Radek (@gamebowski) November 19, 2021

Initial speculation that the game might be heading to Game Pass surfaced after a recent marketing video for Xbox Cloud Gaming on consoles appeared to show a brief snippet of the game. This led to people theorise that the game might be coming to the platform as players accessing Cloud Gaming on consoles are currently required to hold a Game Pass ultimate membership.

While Grabowski's comments may have ruled out any possibility of the studio bringing the game to the platform in the immediate future, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will never be available on the platform. Over the years, Microsoft has managed to successfully bring a number of third-party games to Game Pass, meaning that fans hoping for the arrival of Cyberpunk on the platform shouldn't give up all hope just yet.

As part of celebrations for the 20th anniversary of Xbox, Microsoft's head of gaming ecosystems Sarah Bond recently delved into the origins of the company's popular subscription service and how it was originally set up to be a video game rental service codenamed Arches. In an interview, Bond explained that the company's decision to repurpose Arches into the subscription service we now know as Game Pass came in part due to the success of other companies adapting similar models such as Netflix and Spotify.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

IGN's top recommended gaming chairs are now discounted for the Black Friday sales over the next week. Live now, you can currently get up to $150/ £100 off the very best premium gaming chairs available.

This measn you can get the likes of Secretlabs new Evo 2022 series for just under $500, or an OMEGA 2020 chair for about $364. Secretlab's Black Friday sale will be running until the November 27 in the US, and the UK.

Best Secretlab Gaming Chair Deals for Black Friday

UK Secretlab Sale

Best Gaming Chair Deals for Black Friday

Gaming chairs are the perfect final Black Friday purchase to level up your current set up. While you might be able to settle down on your couch in your living room, a gaming chair can give you a perfect seat that’s easy to move from room to room, so you can have consistent comfort on whereever you want to game. Here's some more great gaming chair deals available.

More Black Friday Deals

• All the Best Black Friday Deals in one place
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• Best Black Friday Deals at GameStop

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Marvel Studios and Scarlett Johansson are working together on a mystery project that is said to be totally unrelated to her Black Widow character.

According to Deadline, Marvel boss Kevin Feige teased the studio's "top secret" project while he was paying tribute to Johansson in recognition of her being awarded the American Cinematheque Award on Thursday night. He noted that the next collaboration between the studio and the actress "has nothing to do with" her MCU character Natasha Romanoff.

A reporter from The Hollywood Reporter, who was also in attendance at the awards show, shared videos of the night's proceedings on Twitter, including one of Feige's speech in which he mentioned Marvel's secret project with Johansson. You can give it a watch below:

Kevin Feige confirms from the stage another project with Scarlett. “We are already working with Scarlett on another non-Black Widow related top secret Marvel Studios project with her as a producer. Scarlett is one of the most talented, versatile and beloved actors of our time.” pic.twitter.com/5dKQeR0Lr5

— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) November 19, 2021

As to be expected, Feige kept almost all details about the project under wraps, other than to say that Johansson will be serving as a producer on the upcoming project in the wake of her role as executive producer on Black Widow, the first movie of Phase 4 of the MCU, released earlier this year. In his speech, Feige praised Johansson's "talent" and "vision."

"Scarlett has lent her talent and star power to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a decade. That she's chosen to play a key part in it for so many years, I am extremely grateful for," the MCU producer said at the annual awards show. "Working with [her] has truly been one of the most memorable and rewarding collaborations of my career."

The announcement of Marvel's team-up with Johansson is quite significant as it follows the lawsuit that the actress filed against Disney back in July over the alleged Black Widow contract breach due to the film releasing on Disney+ at the same time it was released in theaters. The Hollywood Reporter later confirmed that the two parties reached a settlement.

While Black Widow basically capped off Natasha's story by setting up her role in Infinity War, it was far more open-ended for the rest of her family. We saw Yelena, Alexei and Melina gathering up the surviving Widows and retreating to parts unknown before a post-credits scene saw Contessa approach Yelena with a new assignment to hunt down and kill Hawkeye.

The surprise scene directly set the stage for the upcoming Hawkeye series, which is scheduled to drop its first episode on Disney+ on November 24, just in time for Thanksgiving. New episodes will arrive every Wednesday thereafter. The series follows WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki in Marvel's live-action Disney+ TV show slate.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

A single image of a house in the remastered version of GTA: San Andreas has sparked fan speculation that it is, in fact, the first screenshot of Grand Theft Auto 6.

Posted on GTA Forums, the image is found among photos on the wall of San Andreas' UFO-themed Lil' Probe'Inn and, somewhat appropriately, has kicked off a new conspiracy theory – that Rockstar has surreptitiously tucked the first image of GTA 6 into its latest remasters.

The image, which you can see in the tweet below (both as an in-game screenshot and an artificially uprezzed version), simply shows a front-on view of a nondescript house, albeit with a UFO hanging above it. The intrigue comes from the fact that even the most ardent GTA fans can't seem to locate where that house model has come from.

Another #GTATrilogy mystery hunt. The Lil' Probe'Inn has an unidentified house amongst the UFO photo display… GTAVI? (jk) (or am I, where is this from?)

Credit to ArthurZussman, mussefar03 and mrcharhead for these images.

Discussion source: https://t.co/F4uXihZS9v pic.twitter.com/1iHP1jiQML

— Kirsty 🍂 (@kirstycloud) November 16, 2021

The high quality of the visuals in the image means fans don't think it comes from GTA Trilogy itself, but the house seemingly can't be found inside GTA 5, either. That's inevitably led to discussion around where the image has come from, and why Rockstar would include it – especially in a room full of UFO references, famously one of the GTA series' hotbeds of fan theory-crafting.

Previous rumours have suggested that GTA 6 could return to a Miami-inspired setting, and GTA Forums user igrobar tracked down a real-life house in Boca Raton (located just north of Miami) that bears striking similarities to the screenshot. Rockstar is known for reimagining real-life buildings inside its fictional cities, and fans have latched onto the idea that this image is a concrete hint to the setting.

As enticing as all this is, it's of course nothing more than speculation at this point – the image could just as easily be unused concept imagery, environmental testing, or simply an image made or repurposed for the game. We've contacted Rockstar for comment.

Whether it's an image of GTA 6 or not, it seems we have a long time to wait to actually play the game. While we know it's in development, recent reports have suggested the game will launch in 2024 or 2025, which somewhat tallies with Take-Two preparing for a major surge in big game releases. We've also heard that Dr. Dre is making new music for GTA, and that Rockstar has been working on some impressive-sounding NPC tech.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].