Why do Forza Motorsport 6’s special editions cost more than Microsoft said they would?

UPDATE: Following the publication of this story, a Microsoft representative contacted VideoGamer.com to clarify that the pricing listed on the original press materials was inaccurate.

ORIGINAL STORY: If you’ve been thinking about pre-ordering Forza Motorsport 6, you’ve probably already checked out the digital versions available on the Xbox Store. There are 3 available in total, including the Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition and Ultimate Edition, the latter of which offers early access to Forza 6 ahead of its release on September 18.

Two of them, however, are more expensive than Microsoft said they would be.

Documentation released by Microsoft over E3 priced the Deluxe Edition at £60.99. But take a look on the Xbox Store and you’ll see it costs £65.99, £5 more than the listed price.

And it’s the same with the Ultimate Edition: £76.99 according to Microsoft’s documentation, but £81.99 on the Xbox Store. Only the Standard Edition is available for the price originally listed by Microsoft, coming in at the advertised £49.99. (For reference, the press release containing the initial pricing is hosted publicly on Gamasutra.)

So what’s going on with that extra £5? When contacted by VideoGamer.com, a Microsoft spokesperson claimed that the higher prices are actually correct.

“Pricing for the ‘Forza Motorsport 6’ special editions is correctly listed on the Xbox Games Store,” the spokesperson told us. “The deluxe and ultimate editions are available for pre-order for £65.99 and £81.99 respectively.”

Clearly, then, there’s been a mistake somewhere, but genuine pricing errors don’t constitute any form of wrongdoing provided they aren’t misleading. In this case, the higher prices are clearly advertised on the Xbox Store at the point of sale.

Coincidentally, Forza Horizon 2’s Deluxe and Ultimate Editions – the premium versions of last year’s game – are both available on the Xbox Store for £60.99 and £76.99 respectively. Could it be possible that Microsoft accidentally referred to that game’s price points when pricing Forza Motorsport 6?

We may never know, but if you’ve been holding off pre-ordering Forza 6 in the hope of seeing Microsoft lower the price in line with its initial announcement, it may be time to give up waiting.