Forza Horizon 6 Explains Itasha Bans, but Moderation Rules Spark Even More Controversy

The controversy surrounding Forza Horizon 6 and the famous anime-themed cars known as itasha has taken another turn — and developer Playground Games‘ explanation has only raised more questions among players.

In a post published on October 30 through its official Chinese-language social media channels, the team attempted to explain how moderation works for player-created content. The problem? The post was deleted shortly afterward, while some of the criteria it mentioned, such as “glassy eyes” and “slightly parted lips,” began circulating throughout the community.

And yes, you read that right.

Forza Horizon 6 Explains the Itasha Bans

To understand the situation, it’s worth remembering that Forza Horizon 6 allows players to create custom paint jobs and decals for their cars.

For years, this has given Japanese fans and other players a way to embrace a popular tradition: turning their vehicles into itasha, cars covered with characters from anime, manga, and other Japanese pop-culture works.

The problem began when players started reporting a new wave of penalties related to these creations.

Some claimed their accounts had been suspended over artwork featuring anime characters, while one player even alleged they were punished for a livery they had never publicly shared.

That fueled a very specific suspicion: that mass reporting might be triggering automated punishments.

Playground Games had already attempted to address this issue, updating its Code of Conduct in September to state that:*

• creations are reviewed by human moderators;
• the number of reports received does not determine the severity of a punishment;
• a large number of reports does not automatically move content to the top of the moderation queue;
• penalties follow a gradual system, beginning with warnings and potentially escalating to suspensions.

But the latest explanation ended up creating another problem.

What Are the Criteria for Banning Artwork in Forza Horizon 6?

According to the statement, Forza Horizon 6 received more than 12.5 million pieces of user-generated content in a single month.

During the same period, approximately 21,900 reports were submitted. Of those, around 3% resulted in some form of disciplinary action, affecting fewer than 700 accounts.

Most of the penalties reportedly consisted of warnings or temporary suspensions. Approximately 7% of the penalized accounts, around 50 players, received permanent bans, mainly in cases involving designs containing explicit nudity.

The developer also explained that there is another concern: Forza Horizon 6 has different age ratings depending on the region.

And This Is Where the Eyes and Lips Come In…

This was the part that really caught people’s attention.

While explaining how it identifies sexualized content, the developer listed several elements that may be considered when evaluating a character.

These include:

• glassy or half-lidded eyes;
• slightly parted lips;
• clothing considered seductive;
• poses or situations considered provocative;
• a combination of these elements used to determine whether a character is being sexualized.

A character wearing a bikini at the beach, for example, could be considered acceptable depending on the pose and context. Meanwhile, a character showing less skin could still be deemed inappropriate if the combination of expression, clothing, and pose is interpreted as sexualized.

And that’s exactly where many players started questioning the situation.

The Problem Is That Not Every Punishment Seems to Follow These Rules

The community isn’t necessarily complaining about the existence of moderation rules themselves.

The bigger issue is the gap between what the developer says should be punished and what players claim has actually been removed or punished in practice.

Previous reports have even mentioned liveries containing seemingly neutral elements, such as automotive parts manufacturers’ logos.

That has led some members of the community to question whether the criteria now being presented actually match how moderation works inside the game.

There are also questions about whether human moderators can realistically review millions of creations and thousands of reports properly.

The company says that AI is not used to review player-created designs, but that naturally raises another question: can a human moderation team really handle that volume of content consistently?

Why Was the Post Deleted?

The statement was published on the official Chinese-language channels and apparently removed shortly afterward. That caused confusion among Japanese, Chinese, and other players, especially since the controversy surrounding itasha was already generating plenty of discussion.

Instead of putting the issue to rest, the post raised even more questions:

Why was the explanation published only on that channel? Why was it removed? And are the criteria being applied the same way to every player?

You know what makes all of this even weirder? Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan, and these guys are banning itasha… apparently someone at Microsoft STILL HATES ANIME.

via Automaton