NASCAR refutes gaming speculation

In recent days, rumours have been circulated with regards to NASCAR working to pull its licence from video game developer Motorsport Games.

However, yesterday (15th April), the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing responded to Jalopnik’s Adam Ismail with a brief statement.

“NASCAR and Motorsport Games have a long-standing relationship in place and the status of our partnership remains in good standing,” read the comment, which was added to the original article within one hour of publication.

This stems from a report by Sports Gamers Online on the 15th entitled ‘NASCAR Looking To Leave Motorsport Games’ which was then cited by Jalopnik.

“Multiple sources have told SGO that NASCAR is actively looking for ways to get out of its current agreement with Motorsport Games,” explained Managing Editor Mike Straw.

“The sources say that NASCAR would like to bring its license to a different publisher and developer within the next couple of years.”

In a related video, Straw would also say: “NASCAR is working on a case to try and justify getting out of the deal… NASCAR has been trying to do this for quite a while.”

Sports Gamers Online was involved in a similar scenario towards the end of last year with regards to Madden 22’s post-release Franchise Mode updates.

Motorsport Games’ recent financial performance has come under scrutiny after a recent earnings call revealed that its net loss for 2021 was $33.7 million.

In that same earnings call, the date for the British Touring Car championship game was questioned, as it was marked as ‘to be determined’ – but it also confirmed the licencing agreement with the BTCC remains in place until 2027.

“Motorsport Games is proud to be the official license holder for NASCAR video games. Our established relationship with NASCAR has and continues to remain in good standing,” said Motorsport Games when we reached out for comment.

The Miami-headquartered developer has a deal with NASCAR to make licenced titles until 2029 after Motorsport Network first invested in 704Games back in 2018.

Since then Motorsport Games has released NASCAR Heat 5, NASCAR 21: Ignition and NASCAR Heat Ultimate Edition+ for the Nintendo Switch, plus updates for the existing NASCAR Heat Mobile.

NASCAR 21: Ignition launched in October 2021 and was heavily criticised for releasing in an unfinished state and lacking expected features. A new NASCAR game is believed to be in active development.

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