EA Sports & Codemasters Pause Future WRC Development Plans

[T0@st]

Dear Rally Community, every great journey eventually finds its finish line, and today, we announce that we've reached the end of the road working on WRC. 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. Rest assured, EA SPORTS WRC will continue to be available for existing and new players. We hope it remains a source of joy, excitement, and the thrill of rally racing. We've poured our hearts into making it for fans, and we know you'll keep the passion alive.

Our WRC partnership was a culmination of sorts for our Codemasters journey with off-road racing, spanning decades through titles like Colin McRae Rally, and DiRT. We've provided a home for every rally enthusiast, striving tirelessly to push the boundaries and deliver the exhilarating thrill of driving on the ragged edge. We've brought together incredibly talented racing developers, worked with some of the sport's icons, and had the opportunity to share our love of rallying. Thank you to all the fans who have and continue to be part of our rally journey.

• The Codemasters WRC Team

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Thimblewad]

Ever since EA has taken control of Codemasters, everything has gone to shit.

 

[samum]

Ever since EA has taken control of <studio_name>, everything has gone to shit.

FTFY.

 

[Thimblewad]

FTFY.

True. I miss my GRID (1, 2 and Autosport not the new sh*te), I miss my DiRTs (1, 2, 3, 4, Rally and the old CMR games), eh

 

[capdauntless]

They finally pushed me too far when they took away linux compatibility with their new anti cheat. Swore off any new EA game. Never again.

 

[THU31]

I played over 20 hours on Game Pass on Series X. Fun handling, but very mediocre graphics with terrible performance. Plenty of stages drop below 60 FPS with tearing. Also extremely blurry and ghosty TAA implementation, one of the worst I've ever seen.

The move to Unreal Engine probably hurt this game the most. Personally I don't care about those super long stages. Hopefully they go back to their own tech in the future.
The PC version also had awful stuttering issues, and now it has some anti-cheat issues.

 

[Thimblewad]

I played over 20 hours on Game Pass on Series X. Fun handling, but very mediocre graphics with terrible performance. Plenty of stages drop below 60 FPS with tearing. Also extremely blurry and ghosty TAA implementation, one of the worst I've ever seen.

The move to Unreal Engine probably hurt this game the most. Personally I don't care about those super long stages. Hopefully they go back to their own tech in the future.
The PC version also had awful stuttering issues, and now it has some anti-cheat issues.

When it comes to rally games, I like DiRT 4 the most. It has a random stage generator and basically has millions of different stages. Great replayability. Too bad they delisted all the older games.

 

[Rhosta]

Good thing Beam.NG is starting to lean more into Rally with audio pace notes, new Rally events and car variants

With that said, I would be surprised if Codemasters wouldn't come up with at least Rallycross game or something in a few years.

 

[THU31]

When it comes to rally games, I like DiRT 4 the most. It has a random stage generator and basically has millions of different stages. Great replayability. Too bad they delisted all the older games.

I always liked DiRT games, especially DiRT 2. Sunny exotic locations look fantastic in their engine.

I actually bought DiRT 4 back in 2018, but I haven't played it.
And I have both DiRT Rally games, only played the first one when early access came out.
I need to finally try all of these.

 

[_roman_]

What could have gone wrong with the crappy EA launcher and EA brand? I wonder, if ...

The competition for who is the worst. EA or Ubisoft?

 

[Chrispy_]

Obligatory list of studios EA has bought and ruined or outright killed

Origin Systems (Ultima, Wing Commander, System Shock
Bullfrog (Populus, Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate)
Maxis (Simcity, The Sims, Spore)
Westwood (C&C, Battletech, D&D, Dune II)
Dreamworks (Medal of Honor, LOTR, C&C sequels/DLC)
Black Box (Need for Speed from 2002 onwards, Skate)
Popcap (Peggle, Bejeweled, Plants vs Zombies)
Codemasters (Dizzy, Micro Machines, Operation Flashpoint, F1, Colin McRae Rally, Dirt, Grid, TOCA)

There are so many more, but these were all huge, famous, mutli-franchise IP owners that got the full EA treatment.

 

[Random_User]

What EA should have done, is the removal of garbage Always Online restriction, and redo the stat. servers, to function as the cloud backup, with the progress data saved locally. But who I'm fooling myself...

Ever since EA has taken control of Codemasters, everything has gone to shit.

This was written on the wall. As soon as EA (<put any company name here>) bought the Codemasters (even suggested buyout), it was obvious, the EA is going to apply the EA-treatment. Only new to the market/industry, who doesn't know the pooping "stream" of failure/history, could not understand, where it would inevitably lead to- oblivion, and forever lost IP. So as soon as Codies got the first proposal, it was doomed, as dozens of other EA prey/victim studios. EA is not interested in continuation, development of the IP, and it's ideas, it's future. Only dumb MTX and max margins. This basically applies to every other major predatory publishing company. Ubisoft and MS, EG7, SEGA, etc. are as bad. Instead of admitting own faults, and complete lack of vision, EA management just shifts blame on the devs, series, lack of interest, other faults, and thus cutting financing, and complete destruction of the IP.

Obligatory list of studios EA has bought and ruined or outright killed

Origin Systems (Ultima, Wing Commander, System Shock
Bullfrog (Populus, Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate)
Maxis (Simcity, The Sims, Spore)
Westwood (C&C, Battletech, D&D, Dune II)
Dreamworks (Medal of Honor, LOTR, C&C sequels/DLC)
Black Box (Need for Speed from 2002 onwards, Skate)
Popcap (Peggle, Bejeweled, Plants vs Zombies)
Codemasters (Dizzy, Micro Machines, Operation Flashpoint, F1, Colin McRae Rally, Dirt, Grid, TOCA)

There are so many more, but these were all huge, famous, mutli-franchise IP owners that got the full EA treatment.

You forgot the Crusader series, for the Origin Systems, as it's based on Ultima VIII.
Also, the list should include Visceral (Redwood remains), Danger Close (Dreamworks/EA LA) for Medal of Honor). And of course DiCE, as it's completely un-dead corpse, by EA necromancy. There's nothing left of it, even the shadow of it's former self has vanished into oblivion. Basically, this is the ex-CoD gang, doing CoD stuff, with the Battlefield logo + some Criterion, and other random unrelated studios stuffed into the mix. Hence, no one of them can do their job properly.
The irony is, the Activision lured the Medal of Honor guys, to make the COD. And EA lured them back, this time not for the MoH series, but Battlefield instead. This is the problem- if EA kept MoH, not BF series as COD rival, there would be no issue at all. There would be no complains about tight tunnel/corridor infantry fights, and lack of physics.

So, this is the matter of time for the EA Rally would join this long list of doomed studios. They better search for

 

[blinnbanir]

Ever since EA has taken control of Codemasters, everything has gone to shit.

This is the best comment I have read in weeks. It is sad too as Sim Racing has created it's own niche in PC.

What could have gone wrong with the crappy EA launcher and EA brand? I wonder, if ...

The competition for who is the worst. EA or Ubisoft?

EA is much worse. Ubisoft just did not innovate enough and Indie Console clones were better in some ways and cheaper. EA is a whole other ball of wax and Indie is the only hope.

True. I miss my GRID (1, 2 and Autosport not the new sh*te), I miss my DiRTs (1, 2, 3, 4, Rally and the old CMR games), eh

Imagine playing those optimized for today's hardware?

 

[Hecate91]

Obligatory list of studios EA has bought and ruined or outright killed

Origin Systems (Ultima, Wing Commander, System Shock
Bullfrog (Populus, Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate)
Maxis (Simcity, The Sims, Spore)
Westwood (C&C, Battletech, D&D, Dune II)
Dreamworks (Medal of Honor, LOTR, C&C sequels/DLC)
Black Box (Need for Speed from 2002 onwards, Skate)
Popcap (Peggle, Bejeweled, Plants vs Zombies)
Codemasters (Dizzy, Micro Machines, Operation Flashpoint, F1, Colin McRae Rally, Dirt, Grid, TOCA)

There are so many more, but these were all huge, famous, mutli-franchise IP owners that got the full EA treatment.

Respawn Entertainment is probably ruined or dead as well, since EA just canceled Titanfall 3 and laid off hundreds of people.
I'd also add DICE Studios to that list, they haven't made a decent Battlefield title since Battlefield 4, Battlefield 1 would've been good if it hadn't been infected with cheaters.
Everything EA touches turns to steaming hot trash.

 

[blinnbanir]

Respawn Entertainment is probably ruined or dead as well, since EA just canceled Titanfall 3 and laid off hundreds of people.
I'd also add DICE Studios to that list, they haven't made a decent Battlefield title since Battlefield 4, Battlefield 1 would've been good if it hadn't been infected with cheaters.
Everything EA touches turns to steaming hot trash.

That is sad. Titanfall 2 was one of the best Games to play at that time. I recently got back into it and prefer that Mech combat to Mechwarrior.

 

[brendonmc]

It's very sad to hear this announcement. I've played and loved every title in this franchise ever since CM1. Dirt Rally 2 remains their crowning achievement and I play it to this day. Thankyou and well done to everyone in the Codemasters team, past and present, and RIP Colin McCrae.

 

[Chrispy_]

You forgot the Crusader series, for the Origin Systems, as it's based on Ultima VIII.

Yeah, it wasn't a complete list, nor were the games I picked a comprehensive catalogue of those studios - it was just some highlights from the most prolific studios EA has taken over and murdered.

The full list (or as close as you'll find) is here:

List of acquisitions by Electronic Arts - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Thimblewad]

Imagine playing those optimized for today's hardware?

I can say with confidence, that you can still play all of the CMR and Dirt games on a Windows 11 system. For the GRID and ToCA series I can confirm all GRID games and ToCA 3 is still very playable (I started and finished it it the start of this year). Of course you have to use some "forbidden" sites to get the games, but you can play them all!
Many games have widescreen patches and whatnot so they work without a problem.

 

[blinnbanir]

I can say with confidence, that you can still play all of the CMR and Dirt games on a Windows 11 system. For the GRID and ToCA series I can confirm all GRID games and ToCA 3 is still very playable (I started and finished it it the start of this year). Of course you have to use some "forbidden" sites to get the games, but you can play them all!
Many games have widescreen patches and whatnot so they work without a problem.

I tried Grid Legands and for some reason the FFB was disabled. I am talking about using Direct Drive Wheels and Pedals like the Moza R5.

 

[Thimblewad]

I tried Grid Legands and for some reason the FFB was disabled. I am talking about using Direct Drive Wheels and Pedals like the Moza R5.

Oh, I see. All I have is the good ol' G29 and it works in some games and in some it's just trash. Playing on controller is great in all of them.

 

[blinnbanir]

Oh, I see. All I have is the good ol' G29 and it works in some games and in some it's just trash. Playing on controller is great in all of them.

Form the days of Atari I have used a Controller for Racing Games. I bought the Moza R5 about 2 months ago. The Game I like play the most is AMS2. Not just for the content but also how realistic the Physics are in modern FFB. Using a controller to correct spin is a whole different experience with a Wheel. I am still about 3 seconds slower than playing with a Controller though. That is 40+ years of experience but Sim Racing is so good that I upgraded the Wheel on my R5 to the FSR2 for some Formula support. In my GT3 Championship I am at Leguna Seca and the Corkscrew has Crew Chief telling me that I am locking my Fronts but the experience is visceral.