EA Cancels Project CARS and Dirt Racing Games
EA is looking to go in a different direction with its racing games, focusing more on “socially-led” games with “long-term live services.”
Project CARS has been one of the most popular racing game series' among car enthusiasts since it first launched in 2015. Its blend of realism, racing variety, and fun made it an instant hit. Sadly, its time is up, though. According to GamesIndustry.biz, EA—parent company of Project CARS developer, Slightly Mad Studios—is shutting the game series down after three installments.
In 2019, Slightly Mad Studios was bought by Codemasters, the studio behind the Dirt and F1 racing games. However, in 2021, EA bought Codemasters for around $1.2 billion, putting the gaming giant in control of Slightly Mad Studios and the Project CARS series.
The first two Project CARS games were well-received by fans but the most recent third installment, which came out after the Codemasters takeover, wasn't as well-liked. EA initially had the team working on a new Project CARS game but ultimately decided to scrap it. Additionally, according to an employee who asked not to be named, the Dirt franchise is also being canceled moving forward.
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, an EA spokesperson said that the company is shutting down Project CARS to focus on more open-world, specifically licensed IP games and franchises that are more "socially-led with long-term live services." Essentially, EA wants you to play Need for Speed instead and spend additional money on in-game purchases and micro-transactions.
Thankfully, EA seems to be reassigning the Project CARS staff to different games in its portfolio. Slightly Mad Studios had a staff of about 150 employees when it was bought by Codemasters but it's unclear how much of that staff remain at EA today. According to EA's statement, "everyone impacted" will be put in different roles in various EA Sports and racing games.
If you still want to play Project CARS 3, it's still available to buy on the Playstation and Xbox stores, as well as Steam on PC. There's also a mobile version, Project CARS Go, on the Google Play Store for Android devices. However, Project CARS 1 and 2 have been delisted, along with the Dirt series, and can no longer be bought due to official licenses expiring.
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