This is a turn of events. Motorsport Games recently held its Q2 2022 earnings call, and on it, news of further NASCAR content was discussed.
As previously announced, there will be no new stand-alone NASCAR game on home consoles and PC to replace NASCAR 21: Ignition this year, as the Florida-headquartered developer looks to start afresh in 2023.
Instead, there will be a paid DLC pack that includes this season, with the new Next Gen models, for Ignition following a recent PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S update.
“We’re bringing a 2022 season update to our NASCAR 21 game as well as the addition of 2022 teams and drivers to our current NASCAR mobile game and maybe even one of our older Heat titles,” said Chief Executive Officer, Dmitry Kozko.
Wait a minute…
The NASCAR 21: Ignition 2022 season pack is already public knowledge, the NASCAR Heat Mobile update is not unexpected – the free-to-play title has been receiving updates on iOS and Android since its 2017 launch – but, an older Heat title is something altogether different.
Prior to Ignition, the company published the NASCAR Heat series, which was built using the Unity game engine.
NASCAR Heat Ultimate Edition+ was the most recent title in the series and launched for the Nintendo Switch in November 2021. However, thanks to a recent Amazon listing, it appears that this game will receive a replacement in October, currently entitled NASCAR Rivals.
Thanks to a video by content creator RealRadman, a Best Buy retail listing has also come to light that claims Rivals will feature the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season schedule plus split-screen, local Bluetooth multiplayer and Joy-Con Wheel compatibility.
“Also we are launching a brand new NASCAR 2022 game for Nintendo Switch in Q4, that we are pretty excited about.
“We are thrilled to bring NASCAR to the Nintendo Switch platform on an annual release schedule.
“Look out for more details in the upcoming days,” said Kozko on yesterday’s (10th August) call.
That leaves us with NASCAR Heat 5, released by Motorsport Games in 2020 and received DLC packs up until February 2021 when the Ultimate Edition was released for PC, PlayStation and Xbox.
The key element to remember is ‘maybe’, so we’re not getting too carried away here. However, if the company is considering more content for the older title, it will simultaneously continue supporting both Ignition customers and Heat 5 loyalists, which is an unprecedented move.
While this is one brief mention on an earnings call, there has been no official confirmation elsewhere or in the supplementary documentation. The comments came as revenues dipped for the company from $2.2 million in Q1 to $2 million in Q2. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we hear more.
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