Latest news with #EASportsWRC
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Major Racing Series Officially on Hiatus, Future Uncertain
Electronic Arts has put one of the longest running racing game series on hold, leaving its future uncertain. , which turns 24 years in November 2025, is 'pausing' development on future titles with immediate effect. Its developer, Codemasters, has since had its official X account pulled. EA Sports became WRC publisher in 2023 following its purchase of Codemasters in 2021. Recently, the publisher announced approximately 300 job cuts across the company, but Codemasters wasn't mentioned in the announcement. Now, Codemasters X account has disappeared. The studio, which was founded in October 1986, has been in operation for 38 years. 'Every great journey eventually finds its finish line, and today, we announce that we've reached the end of the road working on WRC,' EA wrote. 'After releasing EA Sports WRC in 2023, the 2024 season, including the recently released Hard Chargers Content pack, will be our last expansion. For now, we are pausing development plans on future rally titles.' EA reassured fans that EA Sports WRC will continue to be playable for existing and new players. How long that will last is anybody's guess, however. As for Codemasters, EA hasn't said what's next for the studio. Its fate remains unclear. The post Major Racing Series Officially on Hiatus, Future Uncertain appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
Metro
01-05-2025
- Automotive
- Metro
Codemasters in danger as EA ‘pausing' WRC and all future rally games
A day after laying off up to 400 developers, EA has announced that it is ending its partnership with the World Rally Championship and stopping all rally games. EA has not had a good 12 months. Split Fiction sold well but EA Sports FC and Dragon Age: The Veilguard were both sales disappointments, and at the same time as Apex Legends has seen a decline in profits. if EA Sports FC 26 does better then they can reverse their futures but it cannot be a coincidence that a day after they admitted to laying off up to 400 staff they've also discontinued use of the World Rally Championship (WRC) licence. Apart from 100 job cuts at Apex Legends developer Respawn it's not known what the breakdown is of layoffs across the rest of the EA, but it now seems very likely that British developer Codemasters has or will be affected. Codemasters has been around since the 8-bit era and was the last big, independent British publisher and developer, before they were bought by EA for £1.2 billion in 2020. Since then, they've worked primarily on Formula 1 games for EA, the only exceptions being 2022's GRID Legends and EA Sports WRC in 2023. Codemasters has a long history of making rally games, starting with the iconic Colin McRae Rally series, which evolved into the DiRT franchise. This was abandoned in favour of focusing on the WRC licence, but only one game was ever made. 'Every great journey eventually finds its finish line, and today, we announce that we've reached the end of the road working on WRC,' reads a message on EA's website. 'For now, we are pausing development plans on future rally titles.' No explanation is offered for why, but the game did not seem to be a major hit, and the job cuts alone indicate that EA is now firmly in money saving mode – especially as it already laid off nearly 700 people last year. More Trending Although EA has confirmed some 'select changes within our organisation' it has not commented on the figure of between 300 and 400 layoffs, or which studios are affected. For those that have already bought EA Sports WRC, it will continue to be available for redownload. If you're interested but never got around to buying it, we'd advise picking it up straight away, as the loss of the licence will mean it will be withdrawn from sale. This is all yet more miserable news for the games industry as a whole, where the announcements of hundreds of job losses at a time have become routine over the last few years. It's a particular blow for such a storied developer as Codemasters, who may now be stuck making nothing but Formula 1 games for the foreseeable future. F1 25 is due to be released on 30th May for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Games Inbox: Is EA in danger of going under? MORE: One of the best games of 2024 is free on PS Plus in May MORE: Titanfall 3 was 'almost finished' before 100 staff were laid off insists leaker
