DIRT could very well be on the chopping block, as EA Sports has quietly rebranded the series’ social media accounts. The Twitter handle @DIRTGame has been abandoned, and replaced with a new one: EA Sports Rally, or @EASportsRally. For those of you who haven’t been following the news, Electronic Arts acquired DIRT developer Codemasters last year, for a deal valued at around $1.2 billion.
In October, the team behind DIRT 5 claimed it was working on its “biggest and most ambitious game in over a decade”. Now, chatty industry observer Tom Henderson has published an article on Exputer, in which he claims that project is World Rally Championship. It would appear that DIRT Rally 3 has been scrapped, and has evolved into an officially licensed WRC title.
That makes sense, as Codemasters scooped the WRC license in 2020, with its first effort due in 2023. Considering how successful the F1 franchise has become over the years, it’s not hard to envisage WRC plotting a similar path – especially now it’s under the EA Sports umbrella. Is this a move that’s revving your engine, though? Spin out in the comments section below.
[source twitter.com, via twitter.com, exputer.com]
Comments 22
Does this mean the WRC series is dead? I didn’t realise Codies got the license.
Hmmm. I actually really enjoyed Dirt 5 (as well as the Rally titles) so it’s sad to see the brand potentially go. That being said, if they just rebrand the games as EA Sports Rally and they’re effectively the same game… I suppose that’s fine. We’ll have to wait and see.
Unpopular opinion: I like the license-free rally games that have their own competition schtick to them.
@nessisonett Don't count on it. There are two games featuring NBA, PGA golf, NHL, football and so on out there. Although you can count on EA strongarming their way to being the only realistic option.
Colin McRae rally was always my favourite rally game
@nessisonett from an official standpoint, i think yes. WRC10 was the last official one i think before EA got the license. I actually really enjoy WRC10.
I wonder if EA are having a complete rebrand of its official sports game. I mean, isnt Fifa changing its name to EA something or other too?
Sorry, its bad enough EA getting all these official licences let alone having to see EA in the game titles.
EDIT. This has just been confirmed to me by the EA pga tour post below. I cant own a sports game with EA on the spine looking at me 🤣
R.I.P. codemasters as we (some of us) have grown up with and come to love..EA have taken one of the most independant of software houses and turned them into nothing but a shadow of their former selves..why couldnt EA just have kept the dirt monicker..
@Northern_munkey to be fair EA havnt done much with Codies yet. Grid legends was done with them at the helm as was F1 2021 and that was still pretty good and true to the series. Imo Codies were as bad as of late. Look how they butchered Project cars 3 and turned it in to a crappy arcade racer. Imo Codemasters were at their best when they were banging out TOCA touring cars 1 and 2. I do agree with you tho, not much good comes from EA tho.
I love Dirt 5. Dirt 4 is really good too. I hope the arcadey off-road games don’t disappear. Sounds like they’re about too though.
Makes sense! The best thing they can do, is combine both games to a degree, they have the teams! Have the official rally experience (which is much better in my opinion) but then have the arcade style that dirt offers on the side. Consolidation.
@EquiinoxGII
My thoughts exactly. I actually think it makes way more sense than having two rally titles in Dirt and WRC (the Codies version). I do hope that Codies' WRC game will have historic rallies and cars as I'm not a fan of what WRC stands for these days.
Oh man these are bad news. I love Dirt series. Dirt Rally 2.0 is the best rally sim and one of the best overall racing sims I've ever played. And mainline Dirt series are my favorite arcade racing games. Countless hours were spent with friends playing Dirt 3 online. I'm playing Dirt 5 right now and love the laid back car control and different race types.
Man, ***** EA. Another beloved franchise will die by their hand
I'm afraid EA turns the licensed titles into lootbox and microtransaction hell like FIFA. On the one hand FIFA is a great game, but then you have to either invest 300 hours or 300$ to actually be able to play what you want.
WRC game also means there are exlusively official WRC tracks and cars, Codemasters had originally intended to start a new seperate game series with the WRC license. The latest WRC games have already surpassed the aging Rally 2.0 in several areas, from graphics, to weather, sound or FFB, and KT Racing own the rights to their game, they will most likely continue with a Rally game without the WRC license, since their engine and framework is good enough to justify.
EA is new to simracing and I hope they dont water down on that and allow Codemasters to continue improve in that area, after all when it comes to offroad racing they are at the top because the proper racing simulators can only do the perfectly constructed race tracks from Bathurst to Nürnburg.
All in all I think Codemasters games can greatly benefit from EA's capacity but the downside is the inevitable shift in focus from 'creating good racing games' to 'creating long-running profitable game franchises'.
Good, I can't wait for codemasters to do WRC 2023, even if they just reskin dirt rally 2 and add some new tracks I would be happy. They realistically were never going to use dirt rally name anymore it's the whole point of the WRC licence. So for me this is Win win, chik din din this is still dirt rally 3 it's just got a new name... Chill
Seems pretty lame...
Also whose responsibility was it that Dirt 5 sucked?
EA looking for that Monopoly again. No competition, no reason to make impressive games
I mean I fully expected the next Dirt Rally game to essentially just be called WRC 23. Codemasters have the WRC licence and I think irrespective of the EA acquisition they'd have rebranded their Dirt Rally series into the officially licenced one.
The only reason Dirt Rally 1+2 had their Rally sub-moniker was because Codemasters didn't have the WRC licence in the first place.
This really isn't a big deal.
@Kairu yeah man. The first 2 were absolutely incredible racing expieriences. They are the first racing game i remember being sim like with having to brake in straight lines for fear of ending up in the gravel or overcooking a bend and facing tbe wrong way. Imo they lost that when they expanded in to the Toca race driver series.
@gollumb82 I know! The rally games when I was a kid were memorable, not the greatest but even games like Sega Rally had its heyday. Stratos whipping around the rally course.
I always thought Dirt was a dumb name so good to see it go
I absolutely loved Dirt Rally 1 and 2. As long as it's the same team behind this, I'd play it even if it were called Poopy Dab Lol Rally 5000
The EA cancer just keeps spreading. As much as I enjoy Codemasters and their games, I will never support them now that EA owns them.
@nessisonett No, but after WRC 11 later this year, the lisence is going to Codemasters, so they will be the new developers from 2023.
$1.2 billion for Codemasters just makes the $3.6 billion Sony paid for Bungie seem even more overpriced...
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