An AI bogeyman is plaguing Forza Horizon 6 players online and nobody can figure out where it came from.
Forza Horizon 6 has been a massive success since launch, and not just critically. Microsoft hasn’t shared official sales figures yet, but it’s estimated to have sold around five million copies across Xbox and PC.
PlayStation 5 owners are feeling left out at the moment, but the game is scheduled to launch on Sony’s console before the end of the year.
In its first week, though, Forza fans have found themselves being tormented by what has quickly become a shared archenemy for the community – a dreaded, highly skilled AI-controlled racer by the name of bowie knife99.
For context, the Forza games have always include Drivatars; AI opponents that are based on the driving habits of other players and will appear as opponents during online races.
Forza Horizon 6 is no exception and yet one of these Drivatars, known only as bowie knife99, has been popping up with alarming frequency and proving quite the menace, whether it’s by aggressively ramming into other cars or just being difficult to beat.
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They’ve become such a menace that even Xbox has taken notice, recently posting on X, ‘Happy Bank Holiday Monday to everyone except bowie knife99,’ prompting other gaming accounts to crack their own jokes about the dangers of bowie knife99.
Who is bowie knife99?
What’s strangeis that this AI driver has to be based on someone’s play data, yet no one seems to have come forward to take credit. Their Xbox profile is private too, so no one’s been able to check their identity or get in contact with them.
Even stranger is how they’ve been making such frequent appearances. After all, there are millions of Forza Horizon 6 players so the odds of this one Drivatar appearing to enough players for them to become internet famous should be virtually impossible. It’s almost as if, like Freddy Kreuger and dreams, it can go into anyone’s game whenever it likes and terrorise them without them being able to do anything about it.
We’ve seen some suggest this is the result of a glitch, but that’s an oddly specific glitch if so. Others assume it is some internet celebrity or content creator who made a deal with Microsoft, but there’s no indication of that either.
The most convincing theory is that this is a deliberate inclusion by developer Playground Games and bowie knife99 is either based on an expert player amongst the team or artificially created to be the ultimate Forza Horizon AI opponent.
If so, that would be a smart move to generate online discussion and interest around Forza Horizon 6 and one that so far has worked. Although if that is true, it means Microsoft and Playground may never confirm it, in order to maintain an element of mystery.
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