Codemasters ‘Pausing’ Development Plans on Future Rally Games

Codemasters has confirmed that nary further expansions volition beryllium released for 2023’s EA Sports WRC, and that the squad has “reached the extremity of the road” moving connected the game. Unfortunately, alongside this quality comes the further confirmation that Codemasters is besides “pausing improvement plans connected aboriginal rally titles.”

The seasoned UK racing workplace published the announcement via EA.com.

“Our WRC concern was a culmination of sorts for our Codemasters travel with off-road racing, spanning decades done titles similar Colin McRae Rally, and Dirt,” reads the studio’s statement. “We’ve provided a location for each rally enthusiast, striving tirelessly to propulsion the boundaries and present the exhilarating thrill of driving connected the ragged edge. We’ve brought unneurotic incredibly talented racing developers, worked with immoderate of the sport’s icons, and had the accidental to stock our emotion of rallying.”

The World Rally Championship itself has acknowledged the quality connected societal media, with a mostly vague remark noting the “WRC gaming franchise is going successful an ambitious caller absorption with much quality coming successful the adjacent future.”

EA pulling the pin connected Codemasters rally games volition beryllium a bitter pill to swallow for motorsports fans pursuing EA’s acquisition of the storied British racing workplace backmost successful 2020.

The quality comes successful aftermath of reports of implicit 300 layoffs astatine EA, including astir 100 astatine Respawn Entertainment.

Codemasters has been astatine the spearhead of rallying video games for astir 3 decades, dating backmost to 1998’s iconic Colin McRae Rally. The pioneering rally simulation kicked disconnected a bid of palmy and highly esteemed racing games. Following the decease of Colin McRae successful 2007, the bid retired McRae’s sanction and continued its improvement arsenic Dirt. 2009’s Dirt 2 (known arsenic Colin McRae: Dirt 2 successful Europe and different PAL crippled territories) marked a transitional constituent for the series, which was reinvented again arsenic a hardcore simulation successful 2015’s Dirt Rally.

2023’s EA Sports WRC was the archetypal Codemasters rally crippled to clasp an authoritative WRC licence since 2002’s Colin McRae Rally 3. IGN’s reappraisal notes EA Sports WRC took the class-leading consciousness of 2019’s Dirt Rally 2.0 and stuffed it into an officially licensed World Rally Championship experience, similar a alloy rod successful Timo Rautiainen’s backside, but its method gremlins near it feeling similar a “great racing crippled trying to combat its mode retired of an unfinished one.” Subsequent updates sought to amended its surface tearing issues.

Luke is simply a Senior Editor connected the IGN reviews team. You tin way him down connected Bluesky @mrlukereilly to inquire him things astir stuff.