Japanese players report bans on itasha liveries in Forza Horizon 6

Japanese players of Forza Horizon 6 are arguing over itasha: cars covered in large paintings of anime, manga, and game characters. Artists say those works are being pulled from the Creative Hub and that some accounts are banned. A few reports describe penalties that reach the hardware itself, not only the profile.

Automaton West says players in Japan believe a fresh wave of coordinated reports is behind it. The complaints are older than this week. Back in July, well-known painters started withdrawing work and stopped taking new commissions for the game. There is still no official confirmation that a stack of reports automatically triggers a penalty. Forza's rules say a moderator reviews each report before anything happens.

Over the last few days, players say reports have hit finished itasha, photos of decorated cars, and unfinished sketches. In some cases a drawing made of lines and basic shapes was read as nudity. On 21 September one Japanese player said several itasha artists were punished at the same time. In that account, a few sketches may have broken the rules, but most looked like ordinary pieces in the style. Automaton could not officially tie the supposed campaign to the bans.

Itasha have been part of Forza for years because of the paint and decal tools, but Horizon 6 gives them extra weight: it is the first Horizon set entirely in Japan. Critics say Microsoft uses Japanese culture to sell the game and then punishes a well-known local way of decorating a car. Neither Microsoft nor Playground Games has publicly confirmed a coordinated campaign, so mass reports cannot be cleanly separated from one-off moderator calls. Some creators are already deleting older work or stopping new posts rather than risk a ban.