Reiza Studios, the team behind PC driving simulator Automobilista 2, has taken to its forum to clarify its INDYCAR position.
The move comes following iRacing and INDYCAR’s inability to reach an agreement to extend or renew a licensing agreement, due to what iRacing termed as “an exclusive license with another developer that goes into effect on January 1, 2023.”
The move will see the cars and tracks continue on the service, but the removal of all official INDYCAR branding and nomenclature, plus the iRacing Indy 500 event.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, the Brazilian development team behind Automobilista 2 was in the process of releasing the third instalment of its Racin’ USA downloadable content.
Originally announced at the end of June, before being delayed until August, it was set to feature the Formula USA 2022 amongst other vehicles – an unlicensed facsimile of a current INDYCAR. When the pack did arrive, that car was missing and all reference to its existence was scrubbed.
This left many fans, including myself, wondering if this vehicle would ever appear.
“Re. Indycar situation, I´d like to clarify we don´t have an agreement with Indycar in place and no prospect of it happening any time soon,” said Renato Simioni, Studio Head and Project Manager at Reiza Studios today, 22nd December 2022.
“A discussion took place around August/September for us to try find a way to accomodate AMS2 featuring the car, but they decided to keep focus on the official game being developed by Motosports Games.
“I believe the iRacing development is just a byproduct of that decision.”
Rewinding to the earlier timeframe mentioned, Simioni posted the following within the Reiza Studios forum in August 2022.
“An update on the Dev Update, some edits that we´ve just made and the release of Racin´ USA Pt3 folks – we have had an old conversation reignited in recent days, and with it the prospects of having official licenses for new IP in the future,” explained Simioni.
“Until these conversations are concluded however and irrespective of what the end result is, it seemed appropriate for us to remove any reference to the Formula USA 2022 and review our plans for Racin´ USA Pt3 accordingly.”
This led some fans to believe that either the car will be delayed, but arrive with an official license, or even more rabid, that Reiza could be handed the contract for a new INDYCAR game. These theories are now debunked, and Simioni implies that the decision was in the hands of the motorsport series.
As we stated yesterday, the agreement between INDYCAR and Motorsport Games, in place since 13th July 2021, is publicly available. It’s non-exclusive, meaning other platforms can feature INDYCAR content, but at the series’ discretion.
“The license granted by Licensor [INDYCAR] hereunder is non-exclusive and Licensor [INDYCAR] and the respective owners of the Licensed IP shall have the right to license the Licensed IP to others, including without limitation for use in other Products,” reads the agreement.
Of course, each potential licensee must come to a deal, or resolution, with INDYCAR.
iRacing’s existing agreement with the Penske Entertainment Corp-owned championship expires at the end of December 2022, and thus a new agreement needs to be found.
“…We are still working on finalizing a new license with Indycar,” said iRacing’s Associate Producer, Greg West, yesterday.
Whatever the final outcomes may look like, it’s clear that as of now, an official dedicated INDYCAR video game is still scheduled for a 2023 launch, and there’s to be no official INDYCAR content in the near future for Automobilista 2.
Its recent content additions, and the rest of the Racin’ USA content, have been superlative, recently netting the title a ‘Best Continued Support’ Traxion.GG award.
Full disclosure – Traxion.GG is part of Motorsport Games and the Motorsport Games family of brands. All Traxion.GG content is editorially removed from Motorsport Games video game development and created by a dedicated team. This is a news story, and not an official comment from Motorsport Games.
Featured image: Reiza Studios, August 2022
