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E3 2018: Microsoft and McLaren Continue Storied Partnership with Forza Horizon 4

During the Xbox E3 2018 briefing, we announced that the 2019 McLaren Senna will grace the cover of Forza Horizon 4, the latest entry in the award-winning Forza Horizon series, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to take this next step in our long-standing partnership with McLaren Automotive.

In celebration, the 2019 McLaren Senna will make its North American debut in our Mixer booth, located in the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center. The supercar reveal will take place during a Mixer livestream on Tuesday, June 12 at 11:00 a.m. PDT and displayed for E3 attendees throughout the week. The McLaren Senna – named for legendary Formula 1 driver, Ayrton Senna – sets a new benchmark of excellence in the automotive industry. It is the fastest supercar in the automaker’s impressive history, providing an unparalleled connection between driver and car with excellence both on track and on road.

We are beyond thrilled to extend our existing, long-term partnership with McLaren, with whom we have a rich history having featured their cars throughout the Forza catalog. We first collaborated in 2013, when the McLaren P1™ made its North American debut at the Xbox E3 Briefing and later came to life in ForzaFilmspeed. We look forward to creating more groundbreaking moments together within the Forza franchise and in real-world experiences and continue to share our common passion for delivering automotive entertainment to both gaming and driving enthusiasts alike.

Jolyon Nash,  McLaren Automotive’ s  Global Sales and Marketing Director said; “Video games are now so realistic and our relationship with the Forza franchise has been a powerful tool both to grow brand awareness and show what makes McLaren cars so special.”

Our partnership with McLaren is the latest example of how the Forza franchise has worked with iconic automotive brands to create breakthrough moments that impact how automakers reveal their cars to the world – and alongside Forza are redefining the future of automotive entertainment. For example, at E3 2017, the Xbox Briefing stage played host to the worldwide debut of the 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, signaling the beginning of a groundbreaking partnership with Porsche for Forza Motorsport 7. Partnerships like with McLaren and Porsche have enabled the Forza franchise and automakers to bring more experiences to players in spaces that are more approachable and familiar to gamers and automotive enthusiasts that may not have the opportunity to attend traditional car reveal venues.

Back with Forza Motorsport 3 we worked with Audi A.G. to unveil the first-generation Audi R8 at E3 in 2009. This started us on the path we are continuing to evolve and push today. It was the first time a significant automotive manufacturer entrusted a racing game franchise to be a significant part of a car’s launch plans and signaled to the gaming and automotive industries that automotive partnerships are not only possible but successful.

And over this past decade, E3 and the Forza franchise have hosted nine different car reveals for seven different manufacturers. From hosting the Ferrari 458 in the Xbox booth at E3 2011 for Forza Motorsport 4, to the North American unveil of Forza Horizon 3 cover car Lamborghini Centenario at E3 2016, and to our collaboration with Ford Motor Company to unveil Forza Motorsport 6 and the 2015 Ford GT cover car, we’re actively looking to merge strong moments in the automotive and gaming industries  so that together we can bring premium, exclusive driving experiences to our players.

Above all, we are committed to providing Forza players with the best experiences possible, and this is only possible through our world-class automotive partnerships. We are looking forward to working with McLaren and others to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and redefine the future of automotive entertainment. We couldn’t do all of this great work without our partners and we thank they for their continued support, partnership and joining us on this journey to turn car-lovers into gamers and gamers into car-lovers.

Forza Horizon 4 launches on October 2, 2018 on Xbox One, Windows 10 and Xbox Game Pass, and is now available for pre-order in the Microsoft Store. For those in attendance at E3 2018, Forza Horizon 4 will be playable at the Mixer booth and at the Microsoft Theater. Stay tuned to Xbox Wire and ForzaMotorsport.net for future updates.