8BitDo’s Forza Horizon 6 Dock Became the Collab Template

8BitDo’s Forza Horizon 6 charging dock still lists at $34.99, and the company’s own shop now marks the limited stand sold out. Xbox put that dock in the same April 20, 2026 collection post as the $89.99 limited controller, so the accessory was never a surprise add-on from a random parts maker.

The paint job got the attention. The quieter move is that 8BitDo used this festival stand to become the licensed dock that arrives with Xbox’s limited pads, then replaced its own pin-and-door design on the next collabs.

A $34.99 Dock Painted Like the Festival

8BitDo opened pre-orders on April 20, 2026, the day Xbox showed the Japan-themed pad and headset, and said the dock was available on June 8. The stand is officially licensed by Xbox and built with Forza Horizon 6. It is sold as a match for Xbox Series X and Series S wireless controllers, including the limited Forza pad.

Hardware is the same recipe 8BitDo has sold in black and white since late 2023: a low desk stand, magnetic contact charging, an LED that sits amber while charging and turns white when full, two brightness levels, a rear storage bay, and overload protection. Size is 84 x 76 x 105 mm. Weight is 190 g. A USB cable ships in the box. A wall adapter does not.

The festival version adds the livery and a themed battery door. 8BitDo’s product page lists an 1100 mAh pack and magnetic contacts, and it rates a full charge at about 3 hours. That pack is NiMH. You swap it in for AA cells, snap on the Forza door, and set the pad on the stand so the pins line up.

WHAT SHIPS IN THE BOX

• The stand: Charging dock for Xbox wireless controllers in the Forza Horizon 6 limited finish.
• The pack: One 1100mAh NiMH rechargeable battery for an Xbox Series controller.
• The door: One Forza-branded battery door sized for Xbox Series X and Series S pads.
• The cable: One USB cable, with no power adapter in the kit.

The plain 8BitDo Xbox dock uses the same 1100mAh pack and the same 84 x 76 x 105 mm shell, and it includes two doors so Xbox One pads work too. List price on that unthemed unit is $24.99. The Forza run drops the Xbox One door, keeps Series-shaped hardware, and charges $10 more for the Horizon finish.

4.99 dock became Xbox template

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Xbox Stamped a Logo on the Door You Swap

Xbox’s own collection post, from product marketers Omar Smith and Tristan Munley, sold the pad as a Touge-road tribute. Transparent cyan blue eases into a metallic gradient, with volt green, hot pink, and silver on a silver D-pad and two-tone diamond grips. Battery life is listed at up to 40 hours, from tests Microsoft ran with standard AA cells on preproduction units.

The Xbox Wireless Controller Limited Edition Forza Horizon 6 is one of the most vibrant controllers Xbox has ever released. With a transparent cyan blue top case easing into a metallic gradient, it is accentuated with volt green, hot pink, and silver.

Omar Smith and Tristan Munley, product marketing, Xbox accessories, Xbox Wire

That same post told buyers the Horizon logo is stamped on the battery door “to seal the look.” Completing the matching charge setup means taking that stamped door off. 8BitDo’s kit replaces it with a contact door so the NiMH pack can sit on the dock’s pins. The festival colors carry onto that new door. The original Xbox stamp does not stay on the pad while it charges on this stand.

Xbox priced the limited Forza Horizon 6 controller and headset at $89.99 and $134.99. Microsoft Store orders placed from April 20 shipped on or after May 19, 2026, the day Forza Horizon 6 launched. Other retailers followed on or after May 21. The headset uses an internal rechargeable battery rated at up to 20 hours. The limited pad, like every standard Xbox wireless controller, still ships on AAs unless you add a pack.

8BitDo’s dock went on sale 20 days after that May 19 window. Collectors who bought the pad at launch sat on disposable cells, or on Microsoft’s cable kit, until the matching stand arrived.

Sold Out on 8BitDo’s Own Shop

The official e-shop still shows the Forza dock at $34.99 and flags it sold out. 8BitDo’s June 8 post pointed buyers at Amazon when the stand left pre-order.

https://x.com/8BitDo/status/2063999495709610465

Amazon’s U.S. listing priced the same kit at $30.86 in late August, under a $34.99 list, and showed a 4.6-star average from 751 ratings. Deal posts on X kept circulating that cut into the last days of August. The company shop is the one that ran dry.

PRICE AND STOCK SNAPSHOT

• Official list: $34.99 on 8BitDo’s e-shop, where the Forza dock is marked sold out.
• Amazon cut: $30.86 on the U.S. listing in late August, still under the $34.99 list.
• Buyer score: 4.6 out of 5 stars from 751 Amazon ratings on that Forza listing.
• Unpainted twin: $24.99 list for the standard black or white 8BitDo Xbox dock with two battery doors.

Before the stand even shipped, 8BitDo and Forza Horizon ran a giveaway that put the dock in a prize bundle with Forza Horizon 6 Premium Edition. Winners were named on June 10. The pitch was merch, a festival object you display next to the pad. Shops that carried the Forza stand later got asked, in public, whether they would stock the Gears of War: E-Day dock the same way. The expectation stuck: limited Xbox pad, then an 8BitDo stand in the same livery.

The Next Docks Charge Through the Door

August’s Gears of War: E-Day collab did not reuse the Forza pin dock. 8BitDo moved those buyers onto the Ultimate Charging Dock, a larger 121.3 x 74.8 x 73.7 mm, 200 g stand with true wireless charging and no contact pins to line up. The pack is a 1000mAh semi-solid-state lithium cell, rated at about 3.5 hours to fill. Pre-order listings put that Gears dock at $39.99.

The upgrade that matters for anyone who already owns the Forza kit is the door. 8BitDo tells Gears buyers they can keep the original battery door on the Xbox pad. The wireless pack goes inside, the Xbox door closes, and the stand charges through it. Forza owners cannot do that. Their dock needs the contact plates in 8BitDo’s replacement door.

Gamers can keep using the original battery door with 8BitDo’s wireless charging battery pack. Upgraded from NiMH to a semi-solid lithium battery for safer charging, faster power delivery, and more efficient energy use.

8BitDo, Ultimate Charging Dock for Xbox Controllers, Gears of War: E-Day product page

The Xbox 25th anniversary Ultimate dock uses the same wireless pack, the same keep-the-door line, and the same 3.5-hour claim, dressed in OG green transparent plastic to match the X25 pad. Xbox also folded 8BitDo into the Designed for Xbox Cozy Collection that Anna Vo, director of Xbox brand marketing, posted on September 1, 2026, with a Forest Wonder keyboard and mouse and a Mossy Lagoon Ultimate 3 pad. The Forza stand was the first limited Xbox livery on 8BitDo’s older contact dock. The collabs that followed already left that dock behind.

THE 8BITDO XBOX DOCK LINE

1. November 30, 2023: 8BitDo introduces the licensed contact charging dock for Xbox Series and Xbox One pads, with an 1100mAh pack and two battery doors.
2. April 20, 2026: Xbox Wire lists the Forza Horizon 6 limited dock in the same collection post as the $89.99 controller and $134.99 headset.
3. June 8, 2026: 8BitDo says the Forza dock is available, still on the 2023 contact hardware with a Series-only themed door.
4. August 2026: The Gears of War: E-Day Ultimate dock ships the 1000mAh wireless pack and leaves the Xbox battery door on the pad.
5. September 1, 2026: Xbox’s Cozy Collection post points buyers at 8BitDo’s site again, this time for a keyboard, mouse, and Ultimate 3 pad.

Forza buyers got the look they wanted on the first collab wave. They also got the last Xbox limited dock that asks them to throw away Xbox’s own door art to make charging work.

How Fast Does the Forza Dock Charge?

8BitDo rates the Forza stand at about 3 hours for a full fill, in line with the unpainted dock. The Gears and X25 Ultimate stands are listed at about 3.5 hours on the lithium pack. Microsoft’s first-party path is a pack plus a cable, not a stand: the Xbox Rechargeable Battery + USB-C Cable, on sale since November 10, 2020, fills in under 4 hours and is rated at up to 30 hours per charge.

The Forza dock will not charge while you play. You park the pad. Microsoft’s kit is the opposite: plug the 9-foot USB-C cable into the controller and keep going, even with the console in standby. That is the trade the $10 premium over the unpainted 8BitDo dock does not change. You are paying for the Horizon shell, the storage bay, and a place to drop the pad, not for a faster cell than Xbox’s own pack.

FORZA DOCK VERSUS THE OTHER CHARGE PATHS

8BitDo also publishes trip points on the Forza pack that never appear in the merch photos: operating voltage 1.8V to 3.4V, dormant voltage 3.75V, over-current protection at 900 mA plus or minus 30 mA, over-heat cutoffs at 70 C on the board and 65 C on the pack, and an over-charge window of 4 hours before the dock treats the pack as full. An error state flashes the LED and cuts power.

A Cable Kit From Microsoft, No Stand

Microsoft Store still sells the rechargeable battery and USB-C cable for $24.99. That kit is the official way off AAs, and it leaves the limited Forza door on the pad. It does not give you a matching stand, ambient lighting, or a cubby for a spare door. Xbox still skips a matching first-party dock for this controller, as it does for other limited Series pads that are not Elite.

Elite Series 2 pads already hide a built-in cell and ship with Microsoft’s own USB-C charging dock on the full model. The Forza limited pad is the standard wireless controller in festival plastic, so it inherits the AA bay. 8BitDo filled that bay with a themed stand Xbox was willing to license, then used the next two game and anniversary collabs to retire the pin door.

If you already installed the Forza contact door, the $34.99 stand is the dock that matches both the shell and the plates now sitting on the back of the pad. The unpainted 8BitDo dock at $24.99 will charge that same pack, without the Horizon colors. Microsoft’s $24.99 cable kit will charge a stock Xbox pack behind the original stamped door, and it will do it while you drive. Amazon’s late-August listing still had the Forza livery at $30.86. 8BitDo’s shop did not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Forza Horizon 6 charging dock work with Xbox One controllers?

8BitDo’s Forza product page lists compatibility only with Xbox Series X and Series S controllers, and the box includes a single Series-shaped door. The standard black and white 8BitDo Xbox dock is the SKU that lists Xbox One support and ships a second door cut for that older shell.

Does the Forza dock include a wall adapter?

No. The kit includes a USB cable and 8BitDo states a power adapter is not included, so you supply a USB power source. The same “adapter not included” line appears on the Gears Ultimate dock’s contents list.

Can you play on the controller while it sits on the Forza dock?

No. The Forza stand is a parked, pin-contact charger. Microsoft’s $24.99 Xbox Rechargeable Battery + USB-C Cable is the licensed kit that keeps the pad in your hands, with a 9-foot cable and a claimed fill in under 4 hours.

What protection trips are built into the Forza battery pack?

8BitDo lists over-voltage protection at 3.4V plus or minus 0.05V, over-current protection at 900 mA plus or minus 30 mA, over-heat cutoffs at 70 C on the board and 65 C on the pack, and an over-charge cutoff after 4 hours, with the LED flashing and power cutting on a fault.

Amazon still had the festival stand in late August at $30.86. The shop that designed it is empty, and the licensed docks 8BitDo is selling into the next Xbox limited pads no longer use those pins.