Creating a video game based on a real-world motorsport licence is a tricky affair, what with all the legal wrangling and contract negotiations, and that’s before the complicated bit of producing a serviceable video game is done.
With that in mind, we thought we should take a look at the current state of official licences in racing games, checking to see when major licences expire and speculate over who may or may not take over the development of your favourite racing series in future.
EA SPORTS WRC
The World Rally Championship licence has been used in several video games, with the likes of Codemasters, Kylotonn, Evolution Studios, Milestone and Traveller’s Tales all taking stewardship at some point.
Nowadays, however, the WRC video game licence resides at the door of EA SPORTS (Codemasters held it from 2020 but were then acquired by EA in 2021), with a deal in place until 2027, including rights to hold official WRC esports competitions.
Whether EA intends to release WRC games on a yearly basis up to 2027 is another matter, however, as 2023’s EA SPORTS WRC is receiving a 2024 season expansion.
Sidenote: It is not known if anyone holds the licence to the World Rallycross Championship, last seen in Codemasters’ 2019 DiRT Rally 2.0.
EA SPORTS’ F1 games
Codemasters gained the licence to produce Formula 1-based video games back in 2008, with its first title, F1 2009 arriving a year later.
Since then, the British studio has produced seasonal iterations of the game which continued beyond EA’s acquisition of the Southam-headquartered company in 2021, with a deal in place until the end of 2025.
In theory, then, next year’s F1 game will be the last from EA, but the contract also includes an option to extend the deal for an extra two years if both parties decide to do so.
Codemasters/EA SPORTS’ F1 games form the basis of the hugely popular F1 Sim Racing esports series too, so a new developer could utilise the pulling power of these live broadcasts on F1’s official YouTube channel.
Although other officially licenced F1 games exist, including strategy sim F1 Manager and mobile-based F1 Clash, EA’s F1 games face competition in the realism stakes from Motorsport Games, which is licensed to produce simulation software for Kindred Concepts’ F1 Arcade entertainment and gaming venues
However, whether or not a rival developer can snaffle the F1 license from EA remains to be seen.
F1 Manager
Frontier Developments’ first stab at an officially licensed F1 management game resulted in F1 Manager 2022, a flawed but fun take on virtual team management, leading to two sequels featuring incremental improvements.
The agreement allows Frontier to develop F1 management titles up to and including 2025, but it’s not yet known if the relationship will continue beyond this.
Check out our review of the series’ latest and, in our opinion, best, entry here.
NASCAR
NASCAR’s recent video game history has been a busy one. What with Motorsport Games’ terrible sophmore title, NASCAR 21: Ignition (following Heat 5), a mobile experience in the form of NASCAR Arcade Rush and appearances in Fortnite’s Rocket Racing, NASCAR has enjoyed a vast and varied presence in games.
In terms of hardcore sims, iRacing is still the platform of choice for officially sanctioned NASCAR cars and tracks but as of next year, the American-based sim service is moving into the world of console development thanks to its first PlayStation and Xbox NASCAR game.
After gaining the NASCAR video game licence from Motorsport Games in October 2023, work began on bringing NASCAR 25 to fruition with the help of Monster Games, a studio which has already produced several NASCAR titles over the years.
It is not currently known if the latest agreement has an expiry date. What is clear, however, is the Motorsport Games is set to remove from sale its current NASCAR games at the end of 2024.
MotoGP
MotoGP, the most prestigious licence in two-wheel video games, has a deal with Milestone lasting until at least 2026, which includes premium advertising space for the Italian developer across all grand prix weekends.
Milestone has developed official MotoGP titles on and off since 2007, as well as other sporadic motorcycle games for the FIM Superbike World Championship, Monster Energy Supercross, MXGP and five entries in its RIDE series, so is well-versed in the art of creating two-wheeled products.
With Liberty Media (owner of Formula 1) now having a controlling interest in MotoGP the destination of its video game licence could well change for 2027.
MXGP
Publishing giant Nacon owns the rights to produce official FIM Motocross World Championship games, inking a deal in 2023 that lasts until the end of 2026, after a breakdown in the partnership with Milestone.
The first game in this relationship, MXGP 2024, is expected later this year on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Monster Energy Supercross
While Milestone’s parting with MXGP has seen the rights move to a different company, for the Monster Energy Supercross championship, it has stayed within the same umbrella.
The last one released by the Italian studio was Supercross 6 in 2023, but since then parent company Embracer Group has seemingly moved the licence to Rainbow Studios and released official Supercross DLC earlier this year for MX vs ATV Legends.
British Touring Car Championship
Currently, rFactor 2 has a licence to produce BTCC content and contains all the cars of the 2023 season as paid-for DLC, with official BTCC tracks like Donington Park, Brands Hatch, Croft and Thruxton also available.
As part of this deal, rFactor 2 is obliged to also produce 2024 liveries of the series, with facelifted versions of the BMW 330e M Sport and Toyota Corolla a possibility for inclusion.
The fraught relationship between the BTCC and rFactor 2’s owners, Motorsport Games, began in 2020, with plans to bring a standalone console BTCC game for 2022. This didn’t come to fruition, however, with rFactor 2’s BTCC content, which was always planned as part of the deal, trickling through instead.
With the video game agreement effectively breached, the BTCC moved to terminate, citing MSG owed the licence holder (BARC – TOCA LIMITED) $0.8 million. A middle ground was found, however, and a new agreement was put in place that sees BTCC content included in rFactor 2 until 2026, paving the way for other studios to create an official BTCC game. So far, there have been no publicly announced takers.
The rFactor 2 deal cost MSG a one-off fee of $225,000, with half of the BTCC content’s gross annual sales also heading to TOCA. It is also no longer exclusive, should other developers strike a deal with BARC.
Assetto Corsa Competizione
Assetto Corsa Competizione picked up the Blancpain GT Series licence and released via Steam Early Access in 2018, gaining a full version 1.0 release in 2019.
The series was re-branded as the GT World Challenge for 2020, featuring numerous regional and national sportscar and touring car championships under organiser SRO’s banner, with ACC retaining the rights to feature cars and tracks from these series.
It is not known how long Kunos’ deal with SRO will last, or whether it will extend into its forthcoming sim Assetto Corsa Evo, but ACC received a surprise update this month (August 2024) featuring up-to-date liveries from the GT3-based GTWC Europe championship.
Whether more licensed DLC will arrive in future for ACC, in light of the studio’s focus on Assetto Corsa EVO, is another matter…
IndyCar
INDYCAR’s video game license is another torrid story centring on Motorsport Games, with the Miami-based organisation claiming the rights to create an official INDYCAR title back in 2021, with a release date in 2023 slated.
Despite apparently making significant progress on its INDYCAR game, MSG’s Australian wing, which was focused solely on its development, was liquidated in November 2023, effectively ending development.
This caused INDYCAR to terminate its licence agreement but a settlement was later reached in June this year where the unfinished game assets were passed to INDYCAR alongside a $400,000 payment (significantly less than the quoted $2.9 million original sum).
INDYCAR’s current IR-18 (minus hybridisation) is present in rFactor 2 but hasn’t received livery updates since 2022. iRacing struck a new deal with the championship earlier this year to receive official branding and name for the car and run a new official esports competition.
DTM
RaceRoom currently has a licence to produce official DTM content and runs the series’ official esports championship.
2024 DTM content is on the way in a few weeks’ time, with the full grid of manufacturers finally being available for the first time in the modern, GT3-era thanks to Lamborghini’s involvement, with the McLaren 720S Gt3 Evo also set to be added as a new car.
Although RaceRoom has several eras of the DTM officially licenced in the free-to-play sim, and 1995 content on the way on the 4th of September, it’s not currently known if this deal has a set term.
FIM Superbike World Championship
As already described previously, Milestone has produced several officially licensed FIM Superbike World Championship games through the years, with the most recent being 2022’s SBK 22.
However, with this deal seemingly now expired, Miami-based studio VRAL Games stepped into the breach this year with its official WSBK game, the VR-only VRider SBK.
VRider SBK simulates the 2023 season, and it is not yet known whether a 2024 update will appear, with the length of the license deal yet to be revealed.
World of Outlaws
The dirt oval series has a strong partnership with the American simulation platform iRacing. Cars and tracks are in the subscription-based title, but the company also produces a dedicated PlayStation and Xbox game for the competition too.
World of Outlaws: Dirt Racing was released on 2022 to critical acclaim, followed by a 2023-season DLC pack. Now, later this month, a sequel will launch when World of Outlaws: Dirt Racing 24 arrives.
Supercars
It’s been 22 years since Electronic Arts published a V8 Supercars game, and a modern-day standalone seems unlikely.
However, iRacing has a selection of Australian venues available, such as Sandown and Mount Panorama, and is working on the current Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang models. A release date is not yet known, but it is expected to be before the end of 2024.
FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans
Unlike some aforementioned examples, Motorsport Games not only has (or had) the only official licence for the championship, this time it has delivered.
Le Mans Ultimate was released through Early Access at the start of this year and continues to receive updates and 2024-season DLC – with plans for further support and content running into 2025 at least.
While the Miami-headquartered outfit has the sole rights to recreate the championship specifically (and run branded esports events) there’s nothing stopping other developers from including the same tracks or cars if they come to an agreement with the venues and manufacturers.
Featured image: ‘Dan Cammish, Knockhill BTCC 2024’ – Photographer: Ross McGregor
