It appears to be a sad day for racing fans, as not one but two franchises have seemingly been retired. EA, which owns racing game specialist Codemasters, has apparently cancelled both the Project CARS and DiRT series in a reassessment of its racing portfolio.
That's according to new reports from both GamesIndustry.biz and Insider Gaming. Slightly Mad Studios was acquired by Codemasters in 2019, and is best known for its trio of Project CARS titles. What the team is currently working on is unknown, but it looks like it won't be that franchise any longer. A statement to GI.biz confirms the news, saying EA has "made the decision to stop further development and investment" in Project CARS. Staff are reportedly being moved onto other games where possible.
Insider Gaming corroborates this, adding that the DiRT franchise has also been internally cancelled. There's no official comment on that front, but it makes sense; DiRT Rally will turn into an officially licensed WRC rally game starting next year, and the more arcade-like DiRT games haven't exactly been setting the world alight.
In the case of Slightly Mad and Project CARS in particular, it's kinda funny: the team initially made Need for Speed Shift and Shift 2: Unleashed with EA before going off to make its own IP. Now, it's come full circle. It's weird how things work out sometimes.
Are you disappointed to see Project CARS (and DiRT) come to an end? Tell us in the comments section below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 54
Dirt was a given once it was confirmed CM were working on the WRC games. I wonder what they will play like? Somewhere in between past Dirt/WRC games, perhaps? Or much more like Dirt?
WTF? Dirt 5 is very good. I'm still playing from time to time.
Not that big of a loss, both run out franchises.
PC3 apparently wasn't all that and dirt 5 was just okay. Looking forward to what else they can cook up
Not shocking look how they treated the burnout series.
I thought Project Cars was published by Bandai Namco? I guess Slightly Mad Studios must have retained the IP. 🤔
Well that's a disappointment. PC3 I could care less about, but Dirt 5 was very underrated. Personally, I liked it over FH5. Also Dirt rally 2.0 had a very specific vibe which I'm not sure is going to transfer over to rebranded WRC title (assuming they target the same audience and driving model of old WRC titles).
That graveyard is getting mighty big at EA. They are the masters in the American way buy up the competition and let die off. I have not seen Burnout anymore god I hate this company. Red Alert, Mercenaries the first one not the EA one, Burnout man they suck.
Hey Push Square, April Fools isn't until April of next year, maybe stop with the satire articles for now.
It's sad but i'm not surprised. Project Cars 3 was a total disaster. Instead of building on the imperfect but promising Project Cars 2 they threw away all the Sim Racing elements and made a truly underwhelming arcade racer.
Dirt 5 was OK but not a patch on the now aging Dirt Rally 2.0
@Cherip-the-Ripper
I think you need to understand what EA took from PC2 and what the turned it into with PC3.They took a very good and loved racing simulator and turned it into an awful arcade racing game. They basically destroyed their own franchise!
I for one will mourn the fact that there is one less racing sim on PS5. We are basically left with GT7 (which is quite arcadey), ACC and F1 (also quite arcadey).
I would say this is EA being EA but codemasters has the F1 and WRC games now so they aren't being screwed over. Slightly Mad could bring back SHIFT but after they made Fast and Furious Crossroads they definitely need some refocusing
Nobody should be surprised. This is what EA do and have always done...
Poor codys, they will be forgotten in 5 years.
I enjoyed PC 1 but wouldn't give tuppence for Dirt or PC 2&3. It's not like we needed yet more arcade racers. So no great loss.
More franchises to the bin because of EA.. what a shocker...
I won't miss Project Cars but I do enjoy the Dirt games
@Eldritch Certainly do need more arcade racers, we are nowhere near the glory days of Ridge Racer, Burnout, Split Second, Pure,Blur, etc.
@Flaming_Kaiser Bullfrog,Westwood,Origin all come to mind agreed...😑 Daresay there's a few others I've forgotten!
Absolutely love the Dirt games and the first 2 PCars games were awesome sims. Definitely a shame!
Well they royally fuc**ed PC3 up from a PC1/2 fans perspective and the Dirt franchise will have been retired in an exchange for WRC something or other. Lets watch them drive that in to the ground too. Never know maybe they will add something needless in to it like they did by putting road cars in to F1. Motorbikes or electric scooters or other such crap.
This would hurt more if Project Cars 3 was actually any good. Really enjoyed Dirt 5 for its really fun arcade double platinum and found PC1 and PC2 really enjoyable almost sim, closed circuit racers. I adore all racing games whether its arcade over the top fun nonsense, tight closed circuit sim racers or close to sim. Although close to sim racers are a barren wasteland on console outside of Gran Turismo especially when PC3 went to crap. Always been a little put off with both Assetto Corsa on console cause needs a decent wheel to genuinely enjoy it better?. Arcade racers are pact in comparison to sim. And now this with EA appearing to ruin any chance of a close to sim racer by putting Slightly Mad devs on something else that's probably not a sim racer and more arcade again
@Benjamonk I'm all for blaming EA but pc3 released in august 2020 and the acquisition didn't finalize until the start of 2021.
Unless you're talking post launch support which I think is negligible because the game was fairly ***** from the offset.
@Benjamonk dont forget WRC generations. Its a pretty good race but for some reason i struggle with my wheel over a controller.
The team behind the original dirt left years ago and formed Playground Games and went on to make Forza Horizon, the best racing game of the PS3/360 gen. Bullet dodged.
The loss of Dirt means one less arcade racer...and we need more of them. Dirt 5 was a solid racer, with nice reflections and lighting effects. The acquisition of Codemasters was never going to result in good at the end of the day.
@Sil_Am Me too. I still make Playground tracks too. Loove it
Dirt rally and PC2 are two games I play a lot on my PS4. I hope something will take its place but honestly Im skewing more and more towards pc gaming where there is plenty of choice in quality racing games
Dirt 5 was ok, a few issues that a bigger budget would have sorted. The series could have been a multiplatform contender to Forza: Horizon
DiRT 5 is a phenomenal racer, but everything stitching it together is puerile junk. Sorry to see it go as moment to moment it's just tons of fun. Perhaps down the line it'll re-emerge with a new spirit but the same solid bones. So it goes.
@Sil_Am Same here. I thought Dirt 5 was underrated and I got a lot of enjoyment out of it. It catered more towards the arcade crowd and that was fine by me.
Thats very sad... Project Cars... -_-
I want a new burnout paradise! Was (and is) a brilliant game
Gutted. Two great franchises. Well, apart from PC3, that was garbage.
Why buy racing developers if you aren't going to make racers?
I don’t know why developers would ever let themselves be purchased by EA. They get bought out at the top of their game in most cases and slowly but surely get dissolved or closed down. EA is the worst thing in gaming. Sure Project Cars was diminishing in quality, but it’s just horrible to see how EA treat what they buy out.
@Robocod You see with Microsoft and Rare I think that company would have been way better in Nintendo hands. I dont own anything Nintendo but I think a lot of companies go creatively bankrupt if they get bought by the wrong match.
Anybody remember when slightly mad announced their new console the “mad box” way back when
I feel really sorry for codemasters..once E.A. got their grubby mitts on them it was a sad day for gamers..dirt 5 is really good fun..sad times..
Ea the only game studio that should be bankrupt 20 years ago
When I first saw this article, I thought "DiRT", as in Dirt Rally --- I would have been PISSED if they had canceled Dirt Rally (soon to be WRC). That series is great sim-racing/rallying across beautiful landscapes.
Although I was never big on the arcade-y Dirt series, I feel bad for those that loved the series. Let me guess, EA, you're going to put more money into MUT and FUT?🙄
Project CARS was in a tough spot, having to compete with Gran Turismo 7 on PS, and Forza Motorsport on Xbox/PC. Not to mention the Assetto Corsa series...
Love Dirt 5!! After GT7 it’s the best racing game on Playstation!!
Nothing to do with this franchise but I really miss Split/Second
No surprise, no loss. Project Cars has been dead since PC2 and Dirt only interests me with the Rally attached to the name. They are probably making room for the new WRC game from Codies. Gotta love the overreactions here, though.
@Flaming_Kaiser yeah I’m still bitter they ruined Westwood studios and thereafter the C&C and red alert franchises…
Whelp. That sucks.
Dirt 5 is a very fun game and looks pretty gorgeous on PS5. I figured out how to mute the DJ/interview/Story mode or whatever it was, and slipped in my own music playlist and its a blast to play.
Hasn’t even been that long since EA got their hands on Codemasters and this stuff has already begun. I’d say I was surprised but that’d make me a liar
When you sell off to EA, this is what happens.
Absolutely sad to see DIRT go. I loved DIRT 5.
EAs best skill is to ruin great developers. 👍🏼
Everything EA does from now on is a direct response to losing the FIFA license. They are seemingly restructuring to find the best way to pull through, as this will hit them harder than they admitted in the public.
But this could be good for the games. A more streamlined, quality over quantity approach.
EA is changing, evolving. Perhaps
@Beerheadgamer82 Assetto Corsa Comptizione on PS5 is actually pretty playable on controller, and certainly feels no worse than PC1 or PC2 did. Requires a different style of driving to something like Dirt 5 or Grid Legends obviously, but is still playable. I'd avoid the PS4 version though, and that is no longer being supported. ACC isn't as user friendly as some other games, or laden with tracks / disciplines / cars like PC2, but at least is a racing game at heart, unlike GT traffic jam simulator.
Shame they are canning both Dirt and PC franchises though - EA killed off the Shift series originally, leading Simply Mad games to set up Project Cars franchise in the first place, now they have a second shot at killing it ... although Project Cars was already pretty badly wounded by Simply Mad themselves making PC3 an arcade racer (which was prior to EA and even Codemasters takeover) rather than growing on (or even just actually finishing!) PC2
@Benjamonk Agreed.
Its such a shame that a team that should be remembered for the greatness of PC1 and PC2 will be tarnished with Project Cars 3 on their epitaph.
Would be interesting to see a post mortem and how EA (I assume it was them) turned a great SIM in a largely empty market on console and killed it dead. Of course there's no PC4 as EA killed off the franchise with PC3, long before they made their announcement yesterday. I hope some exec loses some sleep in EA but I doubt it.
Well Project Cars 3 I mean Shift 3 because that's basically what it was changed to of direction and the content layout is Shift not Project Cars.
EA will make the two studios support teams like Activision for Call of Duty and make them support other studios like Criterion is for Need for Speed because goodbye Burnout. Or the studios support Codemasters titles. The talent could be taken for their studios to fill up existing ones or remove the competition entirely as they do (RIP Bullfrog vs. Maxis of Theme vs. Sim games).
Maybe if they have a chance go and make something different. It was clear EA wanted the racing licenses of WRC and F1 why wouldn't they just like the sports licences. I'm surprised Grid Legends even happened and turned out how it did. I wonder if it will be cancelled (even though competes with GT/Forza while NFS does Forza Horizon) or kept for the car licenses they have that NFS doesn't with F1 being more a focus likely for EA.
Maybe Shift 3 actually then PC3 being that or they may be dead like Pandemic, Bullfrog and more.
Dirt made sense to be there then just WRC but got to focus on those licenses than other regular offerings.
RIP Dirt and Project CAR franchises!
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