Forza Horizon 3 PC developer build accidentally released to the public, car leaks in tow

Alongside yesterday's release of the Forza Horizon 3 Rockstar Energy Car Pack, Microsoft has pushed out an update to both Xbox One and Windows 10 versions of the game. However, it now appears that a developer version of the game was accidentally made available during the process, wreaking havoc with player save files.

Following yesterday's update, some players began to see the entire 53GB installation of Forza Horizon 3 being redownloaded to their PCs. This has since emerged to be an error on Microsoft's part, having accidentally released an unencrypted developer build to the public.

Although this has since been followed by a second update to fix issues, many of those who started the game during this period saw their player save data being corrupted.

Forza Community Manager, Brian Ekberg, has since released a statement, recommending affected players reinstall the game to fix the issue.

The incorrect PC version of FH3 has now been removed and replaced. PC players who have the FH3 version ending with .37.2 should immediately uninstall that version of the game, then re-install. The correct playable version should end in .35.2.PC players who completed the download of .37.2 and then started a new game save will have a corrupted saved game. Avoid creating a new saved game on .37.2, and only play on .35.2 to avoid this issue. As long as you have an existing save and have not created a new one on .37.2, your saved game will work correctly once the update is available.

If any good is to come from this, it appears that upcoming content has been exposed through this unencrypted developer build. As discovered by Forza community members, several unannounced cars have been since been spotted in the debug version of the game.

Were you affected by this issue? Have you experienced problems with saves? Make sure to let us know in the comments!

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Matt Brown

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.