EA ends the Project Cars & Dirt series

  • Thread starter Fezzik
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Maybe I will be roasted here, but personally I don't think EA is that bad as some people tend to say. Yeah it is a big corpo aimed at profit mainly, but they do make decent games from time to time, and even their "worse" efforts aren't that bad. Personally I think that Take Two or Activision are worse than EA.
 
Pc3 may have killed the series.

The series still had so many chances to showcase its potential. Hence why I was looking forward to PC4

What a sad day indeed.

We are left without a proper racing simulator on console while open world racing games and yearly releases of F1 and wrc will saturate the market.

Thats why today a PGR reboot has no chance of surviving. Same story with Driveclub.

We lose in the end.
 
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MarcoM
I will get roasted.

PC3 has one of the best controller implementations. Especially on the Steam Deck it is more enjoyable than pc2 or AMS2.
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I can see this as steam deck game to be honest. It even had this "mobile game" structure.

SestoScudo
Pc3 may have killed the series.

The series still had so many chances to showcase its potential. Hence why I was looking forward to PC4

What a sad day indeed.

We are left without a proper racing simulator on console while open world racing games and yearly releases of F1 and wrc will saturate the market.

Thats why today a PGR reboot has no chance of surviving. Same story with Driveclub.

We lose in the end.
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I glimpse of hope.

There is still Assetto Corsa 2 coming, and it will be very similar game to Project Cars.
 
MroczMR
I glimpse of hope.

There is still Assetto Corsa 2 coming, and it will be very similar game to Project Cars.
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I do hope Codies can see the reverence PC2 has amongst console players as a racing sandbox of the like usually reserved for PC, and the potential that it had.

Where you could smash things together and see what happened. Want to know how the Indy 500 would go in the snow? Want to run stock cars around the old Monza oval.. at midnight? Could mix and match series together on unsuitable tracks or run a full 24 hours of Le Mans with night and day cycle, weather and pits, tire wear etc which hadn't been on consoles I don't believe since the Dreamcast era and the official game.

While PC3 had some of these elements it didn't keep the same authenticity and piles of options, I do think there's still a place for this kind of game and clearly an audience.

It unfortunately sounds like a hard sell to EA though.
 
Sounds like Codemasters shot themselves in the foot by pushing for Project Cars Revolution to be rebranded as Project Cars 3.

If there’s truth in the shareholders pushing for this whilst trying to deliberately mis-market to the sim crowd, it’s no wonder the series is dead.

I guess the only hope going forward is that Assetto Corsa 2 fills this void for console players, or that Automobilista 2 eventually makes it to console once they’ve reached their end goal of fleshing out the title over time.

It’s sad, but I really do worry for the Grid series as well whilst under EA. Part of me wonders how watered down their upcoming WRC series will also be to appeal to the more casual players similarly to their F1 titles. No doubt in my mind it’s going to be crammed with pointless customisation MTX to capitalise on the profits.

….would love to be proved wrong though.

It does seem that Ian Bell has been reaching out to the old SMS developers to join him in working on the new GTR Revival title. Hopefully some independence from the big publishers will give them the freedom to make a decent title. Time will tell.
 
I really don't share focusing the criticism on the developers instead of the corporative monsters. Like if the dubious creative decissions, marketing or flops justify destroying artistic entities in such uncaring way.

Sony, as stupid it was to kill Evolution, gives unlimited freedom and money to those studios that perform. And you get unimaginable artwork jems like TLOUII that push the medium and sell a gazillion.

EA business model is vile and a creative genocide. Nothing justifies it.

dnu2ydb3sme81.jpg
 
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Matt Stephens
Sounds like Codemasters shot themselves in the foot by pushing for Project Cars Revolution to be rebranded as Project Cars 3.

If there’s truth in the shareholders pushing for this whilst trying to deliberately mis-market to the sim crowd, it’s no wonder the series is dead.

I guess the only hope going forward is that Assetto Corsa 2 fills this void for console players, or that Automobilista 2 eventually makes it to console once they’ve reached their end goal of fleshing out the title over time.

It’s sad, but I really do worry for the Grid series as well whilst under EA. Part of me wonders how watered down their upcoming WRC series will also be to appeal to the more casual players similarly to their F1 titles. No doubt in my mind it’s going to be crammed with pointless customisation MTX to capitalise on the profits.

….would love to be proved wrong though.

It does seem that Ian Bell has been reaching out to the old SMS developers to join him in working on the new GTR Revival title. Hopefully some independence from the big publishers will give them the freedom to make a decent title. Time will tell.
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Pcars 3 was already close to finishing development, if not already finished, before Codemasters took over. Codemasters didnt/couldn't have had any say in pCars 3.
 
MarcoM
I will get roasted.

PC3 has one of the best controller implementations. Especially on the Steam Deck it is more enjoyable than pc2 or AMS2.
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LOL, PC3 is completely unplayable like Shift. They created rather extremely dumb schema but if it works for you, it has some real life roots. I am not able to play this game because of extreme input lag. I am glad it's dead because PC3 is still sad story even today to me. So many hopes...
 
Samus
People keep saying this but it's not going to be the same when they're constricted by the license.
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Based on what industry insider Tom Henderson has said so far, WRC 23 will feature 16 individual car classes, which is pretty much on par with what Dirt Rally 2.0 offers. If true, then WRC 23 is essentially DR3.0 with the addition of the WRC license, mirroring how the FIA World Rallycross Championship license was implemented in the previous game.

insider-gaming.com

Codemasters' WRC 23 Lets You Build Your Own Rally Car

Insider Gaming sources say that Codemasters' WRC 23, the first WRC title in over 18 years will allow you to fully build your own rally car.
insider-gaming.com insider-gaming.com
 
I never got into the PCARS series so it's no huge loss for me. And AMS2 is basically what PCARS3 should've been anyway. Leave proper sims to other devs that can do it better. GRID is still here to stay to cover the simcade racing side.

I stopped playing DIRT after the 3rd game, but DIRT Rally 1/2 are some of the best games Codies ever made. Having WRC license is great but it won't have the variety of normal DIRT series, and I bet you it won't be as brutally realistic as DR 1/2.

I could see this coming when EA bought Codies. A few people said it was doom mongering, EA has turned a corner, etc. Guess who's right?
 
How does Grid and Project Cars 3 conflict?

Grid 2019 failed because it barely had any content and was just a useless game that should have never been released. Even Grid Legends is better because it improves on it and makes it better but the track list of Grid Legends is still poor.

Pretty sad to hear how Project Cars 3 was trying to appeal to the Horizon crowd. Why are they doing this?

Stop alienating your own fans just to appeal to fans who other wise wont even buy your game.

So many games have been doing this lately thats why many are falling because they lost their own identities.
 
SlimCharles
That's incredibly interesting.
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It is. It explains why many of the decisions were made before and during development and then how PC3 was marketed the way it was. It seems SMS were not going to market it as a direct follow on, their arm was twisted.

Although I can see the overall reasoning behind the change of format to the series, it is a business after all, a few of those decisions were questionable and it ended up with a poorer product than what, I think, they were aiming for. It could have been an excellent crossover between "sim" and fun. It's still pretty good though for those that give it a chance and not just dismiss it out of hand.

Anyway overall it's sad news about SMS, not least because there's people involved and some may loose their jobs. I expect a certain Mr Bell might be on the lookout for any talent that might help with his new Project. I still enjoy enjoy PC3 (custom races are great) and play it regularly. And in PC2 with my fellow racers we still run various series over in the online section. There's so many car and track combinations! On console there's nothing to really touch its variety. Long live the king.
 
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Hey the more money they can sink into Unbound the better. Right? Right!? That's too bad because Project Cars 2 was a good game especially on pc and I like it more than GT7. I'm glad I was able to refund Pcars 3 on steam and some EA people probably did too. 😄
 
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egl92
I'm not surprised that Project Cars disappears, after PC3 fiasco that target can be filled by future Grid games.

Dirt will be integrated into WRC games.

So EA's racing portfolio looks like this:

WRC
F1
NFS
Grid
Real Racing
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So sim racing is dead. All hail Mario Cart.

MisterWaffles
Be honest guys, PC3 sold absolute peas. Nothing. There was never going to be another game in the franchise. The only news we got about the 4th installment was Sir Ludicrous Claims saying it would be the "best game evar".

SMS lied in the leadup to PC3 so much and it was one of the filthiest things I've ever seen in a racing game release. The game itself might have been OK but it's not interesting or significant enough to warrant any attention either, and it didn't get any besides the negative response.

and remember, that was all without EA's help. SMS made a very subpar game and ruined all the faith in their brand, then got eaten up by a larger publisher. If they stuck with the PC2 formula and PC3 was a success, maybe EA would have kept the lights on. But as far as I'm concerned SMS sealed their own fate.

Also if you guys want another Project CARS game go play AMS2, it's on the same engine but it's way better.
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looks ok for a euro series with a few US tracks that are all DLC
 
It's a shame really.

The first two PCars entries were so much more serious, geared towards individuals who love simulators, and race driver like career progression.

Then PCars 3 came out with simcade physics, yet I THOROUGHLY enjoy(ed) the game, because it's pure fun!
There were a great selection of cars, tracks, and fun career events. Creating a driver (even Female drivers) I never enjoyed the previous two titles as much as the 3rd.

But considering they established themselves with Simulation/Serious gaming, they lost their primary consumers.
 
MisterWaffles
Be honest guys, PC3 sold absolute peas. Nothing. There was never going to be another game in the franchise. The only news we got about the 4th installment was Sir Ludicrous Claims saying it would be the "best game evar".

SMS lied in the leadup to PC3 so much and it was one of the filthiest things I've ever seen in a racing game release. The game itself might have been OK but it's not interesting or significant enough to warrant any attention either, and it didn't get any besides the negative response.

and remember, that was all without EA's help. SMS made a very subpar game and ruined all the faith in their brand, then got eaten up by a larger publisher. If they stuck with the PC2 formula and PC3 was a success, maybe EA would have kept the lights on. But as far as I'm concerned SMS sealed their own fate.

Also if you guys want another Project CARS game go play AMS2, it's on the same engine but it's way better.
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Thats not true I doubt EA would keep the Project Cars series running.

Even if PC3 was like PC2 they still would have pulled the plug on this series.

Read their statement their focus are on racing games like F1 and open world racing games so Project Cars series does not fit in their future plans.

Grid series right now has not copped the chopping block but one day it could face a similar fate.
 
Honestly more sad about Dirt than PCars. I guess arcade rally titles are truly extinct now, apart from Art of Rally anyhow.
 
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MarcoM
I will get roasted.

PC3 has one of the best controller implementations. Especially on the Steam Deck it is more enjoyable than pc2 or AMS2.
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Yes, but the game itself is nearly unplayable with a dull career mode, arcadeish handling model and the exclusion of pit stops.
 
IfAndOr
Seems like they did add quite a bit to the confusion. Which I think is what Matt was referring to.
Without that conflicting marketing things might have gone slightly differently.
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Oh there it is, I swear I remember once hearing that PC3 was aimed to be PC Revolution, but then the team changed it to be marketed as a sequel at the last minute. Initially, I thought it was just SMS making a bad decision, but now it sounds like they were forced to change it to a sequel because of some shareholders thinking PCR would be too redundant under Codies with GRID being a factor.

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I guess another thing that gets me riled up about this series being essentially killed is that Project CARS 2 felt like such a great sequel to me. I was enjoying that game at the time more than FM7 admit-ably and all I was doing was some custom races in its equivalent of arcade mode.

One part of me was just hoping after PC3's failure was that it would be a chance for the series to go back on the path it should've been on at the first place. Take the lessons learned from PC2 and evolve from there, but noooo.
 

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