WRC Franchise Set to Switch Developers as Codemasters Puts the Brakes on Rally Titles

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Famine

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Me? Crazy? Noooo.....
 
I still haven't gotten around to playing Dirt Rally 2.0 or EA WRC but it's very sad to hear Codemasters moving away from rally games, they always had great handling, audio, weather, stages, and balanced difficulty.

Who indeed will make WRC games now? Would Milestone take on that workload again? I doubt Kylotonn would want to return so soon (especially while working to improve TDUSC). If the license is remaining with EA, they could hand the reins to DICE (If DICE weren't busy making Battlefield). I only bring them up because they did make RalliSport Challenge 2 for the Xbox, though while I do think that's among the best rally games ever made, it was 21 years ago and I presume approximately zero of the people who made it are at DICE today.
 
Wait what? Codemasters aren't making rally games anymore? The one type of game that the company has been known for since day dot? How did it come to this? I'm not biggest rally fan but I've played Dirt Rally, Dirt Rally 2, EA WRC, Dirt 3 and Dirt 5. OK Dirt 5 was a bit of a letdown but still, I can't deny the impact these games have had on me and the wider community. Hearing this news is such a shame and I'm having trouble processing it...
 
So EA is starting to diminish codemasters role to F1 games alone… and this is also not certain since F1 games are loosing each year popularity because of poorly made decisions.

It seems like EA really is killing most of their companies.
 
I really wish Codemasters was sold to Take-Two instead of EA. They completely ruined Codemasters, DiRT was rebranded and is now shelved, GRID is probably done too, F1 games haven't exactly been great lately, Project Cars is gone and Need for Speed is currently frozen. I wouldn't be surprised if EA decides to close the whole studio too in the coming months.
 
I really wish Codemasters was sold to Take-Two instead of EA. They completely ruined Codemasters, DiRT was rebranded and is now shelved, GRID is probably done too, F1 games haven't exactly been great lately, Project Cars is gone and Need for Speed is currently frozen. I wouldn't be surprised if EA decides to close the whole studio too in the coming months.

Honestly, anyone who thinks Take Two would have done any better just needs to have a look at their current sports game franchises. They can make EA look like a customer first family friendly company sometimes.
 
F1 games haven't exactly been great lately
Just FYI, while I'm totally on board with this sentiment generally - I really liked F1 2020, and while I was a bit meh on Braking Point, F1 2021 was absolutely fine too, but I wasn't gripped by F1 22 (I don't even remember it) or F1 23, and F1 24... really felt like a game for the sake of it - having spent some time with an early build of F1 25 down in Birmingham back at the beginning of April it's looking like a solid uptick.
 
I still have PTSD from the horrible physics and rubberbanding in Racing Evoluzione so I hope the new developer is not Milestone. Always avoided their games like the plague since that experience. Perhaps they got better at their craft in the 20 years since then tho.
 
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it's looking like a solid uptick.
It's one thing being a solid uptick, it's another as to whether that translates to an increase in sales. And when one of your selling points are reverse tracks, I'm not certain that's a unit-seller in its own right...
 
It's one thing being a solid uptick, it's another as to whether that translates to an increase in sales. And when one of your selling points are reverse tracks, I'm not certain that's a unit-seller in its own right...
At least it has some selling points this time though :lol: F1 24 was F1 23 with less stuff and worse-handling cars.
 
I really hate this greedy selfish corporate stuff, just milk the cow not slaughter it!. This news makes the codemasters games precious. Hopefully whoever takes up the mantle does a good job with it. Where could it land Inside Forza or GT? back where it was...? I'd say give it to Bugbear who make wreckfest that would be a prospect!
 
I still have PTSD from the horrible physics and rubberbanding in Racing Evoluzione so I hope the new developer is not Milestone. Perhaps they got better at their craft in the 20 years since then tho.

Their last run of WRC games were solid, nothing amazing but obviously working on much older hardware back then. It's what they showed after losing the licence that sells me on Milestone - Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo was in many ways doing EA Sports WRC things long before EA Sports WRC was ever a thing. Long, accurately modelled real world stages? Yep. Massive car list? Yep. Advanced damage model and realistic physics? Yep. Massively underrated/forgotten gem of a game, arguably a stronger game than the first DIRT Rally I think.
 
EA slowly killing Codemasters is the scenario everyone could've predicted. We'll probably have only F1 games in the next few years, but I won't be surprised if that will get shut down as well due to declining sales figures (and rising monetization expectations).
 
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Why does everyone keep thinking that just because the game won't be supported anymore, that the game in its present state suddenly stops working?

It doesnt.

Did Dirt 2.0 stop working when that support ended?

Did ACC stop working when that support ended?

It's a ****** situation for Codemasters. I doubt this was entirely their doing ( EA )

Keep playing and enjoying, I know I will.

Whatever comes in the future will be highly anticipated I'm sure.

But to say the game itself is dead isn't accurate, the game support and further development is.
 
For me, wrc 24 is a gem, a really solid rally sim.
I'm really liking so much each car, the handling variations.
On tarmac especially, im loving all the cars i try, the new modern stuff, the oldies, renault 5, mk2, wrx, Porsches,... all of them that i tried and tweaked a lil the setups, on a wheel at least.
Loose stages are great too, especially degradations on it too.

Very cool damage, sounds, stages, variations on conditions.
Ffb is great for me after some tweaks. I feel really well the road, on tarmac with old cars it's very good.

On ps5, in cockpit pov, it runs really well.
I love having custom championships.

I'll enjoy this gem for a long while im sure.
And a big thank you to codies, for such a great effort.
I hope somehow they will turn up back into rally, somewhere.

Such a huge shame, was looking forward to much more, years of such cool sim game feom them, just continuing as it is now.

That's a huge letdown for me, as i just got into this game recently, and im so appreciating the quality of driving, and each car character.

It's a shame that because some money suits look mostly at the bottom line, each year, with no vision, passion, things are dumped, and they have the last words
 
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