Racing Game Fans Mourn Death of Project CARS
Project CARS 4 will not happen - Electronic Arts communicated today that it is sending the series started by Slightly Mad Studios to the grave „after evaluating the long-term growth potential” of these racing simulators.
Electronic Arts has just proven once again that its reputation as a "killer" of brands and studios is fully deserved. Today, like a bolt out of the blue, the news broke that the Project CARS series will be abandoned - and thus there will be Project CARS 4, which has been slowly talked about more and more recently (and promised to be better and better, as a return to simulation roots). GamesIndustry.biz first reported it unofficially, and immediately afterwards received a statement from EA, which confirmed this unhappy news.
"Following an evaluation of the next Project CARS title and its longer-term growth potential, we have made the decision to stop further development and investment for the franchise.
Decisions like these are very hard, but allow us to prioritise our focus in areas where we believe we have the strongest opportunity to create experiences that fans will love. We are focusing on our strengths in our racing portfolio, particularly licensed IP and open-world experiences, and expanding our franchises to be more socially-led with long-term live services that will engage global communities. [...] with shifting fan expectations, we recognise the need to evolve our games beyond pure play, providing experiences for fans to also watch, create and connect with their friends.
We are working with everyone impacted by this decision to place them into suitable roles across our EA Sports and racing portfolio, as well as other parts of EA, wherever we can. Our priority now is on providing as much support as possible to our people through this transition."
I'll leave this quote without commentary - the paper might not take the ugly words that come to my lips when I absorb EA's philosophy. It's good at least that the company declares that it doesn't intend to leave the employees of Slightly Mad Studios hanging (I wonder if the name of this developer will survive, or if it will also be discarded).
Either way, the fact remains that in recent months - or even years - there have been signs that have led us to this situation. The poor condition of the 2020's Project CARS 3, which misappropriated the brand's ideals, then the fiasco of the similarly themed GRID Legends and then we had the resignation of Ian Bell, head of Slightly Mad Studios (creators of the series in question), and more recently the removal of the first two installments of the series from stores.
