Sorry, But BDS Includes Forza Horizon 5

It's something that has been front of mind for me ever since the BDS Movement first announced that they had added Microsoft as a company they want people, organizations, and countries to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction for their support of Israel's ongoing genocide and massacre of the Palestinian people from their native homeland. I think about it every time sales figures get announced for games, and especially when it comes to recent times on Playstation.

And in this case, one game in particular that has become the top game and franchise within the racing game genre in the last few years. A game that has become ubiquitous when talking about any racing title that has free roam elements, regardless of it's being done in the same way. Where, unless the racing game exists in a more focused realistic space, it will be weighed and measured against it, fairly or otherwise. I am talking about Forza Horizon 5 and yes, it is a part of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction protest from everything Microsoft.

It was in January that an investigation originally posted on +972 Magazine detailed the depth in which Microsoft was supporting Israel in their acceleration of the eradication and displacement of Palestinians from their native homeland in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. It is the continuation of the Genocide of Palestinians by the Zionist state that has gone on since the first Nakba in 1947, which has it's origins going back to the late 19th century. The Israeli Occupation Forces have used Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform as well as ChatGPT from Microsoft-owned OpenAI to assist forces in military and intelligence operations in the region, meaning they have directly supported in the ongoing murder of Palestinian civilians, women and children. As a result of the ongoing siege from the air, ground and water, Gaza now has the highest amount of child amputees in modern history and is currently at a crisis point with Israel starving the population in Gaza with blockades preventing food, water and aid from entering Gaza and the West Bank.

More than two thousand workers at Microsoft launched No Azure for Apartheid, an internal group within the company focused on demanding Microsoft cease all operations with the apartheid regime in association with the No Tech for Apartheid network. The petition for No Azure for Apartheid notes Microsoft's hypocritical nature for having a Human Rights Statement as a part of their Corporate Responsibilities, yet continue to support the Israeli regime even after suspending new sales to Russia in their ongoing war with Ukraine. The continued hostility from Microsoft towards their own workers, combined with the mounting evidence against Microsoft led to the BDS Movement to "...calls on people of conscious to pressure Microsoft to end its complicity in Israeli apartheid and AI-powered genocide. To pressure Microsoft, boycott Microsoft’s consumer products whenever possible (including Microsoft gaming services), demand your institutions divest from Microsoft and exclude the company from contracts."

Microsoft gaming services includes Xbox. It includes Game Pass. And while not named when it was initially reported on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, the boycott does include Playround Games's Forza Horizon 5. Nearly a month after the call from the BDS Movement was made, Forza Horizon 5 was released on Playstation 5 to near-universal praise. It has sold more than three million copies since it's release three months ago, and has topped sales charts over other Microsoft-owned games published by Bethesda or Activision Blizzard. Forza Horizon 5 rules the world, and in not too long Forza Horizon 6 will be formally announced with it no doubt having a multi-platform release that will continue the money printer.

Microsoft makes tens of billions of dollars in profits per fiscal quarter, with games like Forza Horizon making hundreds of millions of dollars per release and are immensely profitable. All that revenue after going to keeping the lights on at Playground Games and paying for the multitude of licensing fees which help make racing games tick has to go somewhere else right? It's not as simple as it just goes into their coffers, or to shareholders in stock buybacks and is left at that; it goes into other products and developments in tech that Microsoft makes. It goes into further developments for Azure cloud computing, it goes into their continued investment into OpenAI and ChatGPT, it goes into surveillance systems with all those products being used directly against Palestinians. It isn't Forza Horizon 5 alone is funding Microsoft's support of an apartheid state, it's one part of a bigger puzzle that's funding and supports genocide, however small this piece may be.

Personally, I am not a big fan of the later Forza Horizon games. I find them particularly vacuous as time has gone on, like a corporate pizza party that's given to an employee base who just want a raise and proper benefits but has had every union drive squashed, as much as I can't deny the quality and success of the product itself. I'm reminded of the apolitical visage Guy Fieri likes to portray on Food Network, while turning around and not showing support for struggling restaurant workers when the COVID-19 pandemic began and hanging out with Donald Trump at UFC events. It's how Microsoft has been operating at home and abroad. You get your Forza Horizons and the like at home, and you also get Microsoft supporting Israeli operations in bombing civilians walking in the streets or were trying to get food and aid from what few supply trucks are allowed into Gaza.

Video games are not apolitical, and never were. The genres and games that feel the most apolitical aren't out of sight, out of mind in lieu of their parent corporation's other ventures. They carry the weight and the burden as well; and they carry the mark that they too should be boycotted against for the sake of mankind. You cannot separate art from artist anymore in this regard.

And in the world of racing games, there is so much more on offer when you get beyond a corporation that is a target for boycott from BDS for it's support of the Palestinian Genocide.

If you wish to donate to charities supporting Palestinian civilians, here is a good place to start.

There isn't an exhaustive list, but the fundraisers signal boosted by Molly Shah all go directly to supporting people in Gaza and she has links and general information in her pinned skeet on Bluesky.

If you want to show solidarity at home, buy a keffiyeh from a reputable company and wear it loud and proud. I recommend being on the look out for restocks from Hirbawi and for what is available from Kuvrd.