Young racing video game developer, Motorsport Games, has announced that its official IndyCar game has been pushed back to 2024.
Originally announced in July 2021, the first dedicated American Open Wheel Championship PC and console game since Codemasters’ 2005 IndyCar series was slated for a 2023 release.
That changed today, March 24, 2023, as announced on the company’s full-year 2022 conference call.
Image from the IndyCar game website
“For our IndyCar game, we continue to make progress in our development efforts,” said Dmitry Kozko, CEO of Motorsport Games, during the presentation.
“But we don’t think we’ll be in a satisfactory position to release it to the community this year.
“The IndyCar community hasn’t had a dedicated game in over a decade and we want to make sure our IndyCar game is on par with other great racing games and has enough features to delight IndyCar and other fans.”
Further context on the decision behind the delay was provided later in the tender by the company, which also licenses special games from NASCAR, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the British Touring Car Championship.
“I think one point that we really want to make clear and that we addressed in our call is that we really took a step back and seriously looked at the quality of the products we were supplying, especially when it comes to an IndyCar product goes,” Kozko explained.
“We want to make sure the standard that the IndyCar community is looking for in their product is exceeded, we want to make sure we exceed their expectations.”
The INDYCAR IR-18 in rFactor 2
It follows the tortuous launch of the ill-fated NASCAR 21: Ignition, which fused existing physics with the Unreal Engine but resulted in an unfortunate series of technical errors and glitches.
Since then, Motorsport Games has announced that it will not develop any more games based on its technology base, instead commissioning the former KartKraft development team to develop IndyCar entirely in Unreal.
“Our track record with Ignition to date does not demonstrate this ability,” continued Kozko.
“So, essentially, we need to set even higher standards on ourselves to make sure it gets the momentum it needs when it releases this game.
“So for us it’s a long-term investment to make a decision even if we see the game in the right phase right now.
May 2022 In-game images from an IndyCar game teaser
“There [are] moving cars, there [are] traces, there [are] certain elements to be included in the game. But we just don’t think it lives up to what the community expects…
“…We understand that the extra time and investment will pay off for us in the long run.”
In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, Motorsport Games’ revenue was $3.8 million, down 54% year over year. Gross profit was $2.3 million compared to $3.3 million for the same period last year, down $1 million, while gross profit margin improved to 60.6% from 40.5% .
It still posted a net loss of $4.8 million compared to a net loss of $7 million 12 months earlier.
NASCAR 21: Ignition
“This year we plan to roll out updates for the 2023 season for our NASCAR game across all major platforms including PlayStation, Xbox PC, Nintendo Switch and mobile,” Kozko said of his other key licensing agreement.
“[The] The NASCAR community deserves a great gaming experience, we understand we didn’t meet [anywhere] close to our own expectations [with] the release of Ignition, which is why we’ve continued to sell our previous year’s titles and want to continue updating content around our portfolio there.
“But regarding the decision to launch a game that is an engaging and exciting experience for NASCAR or other communities, we will hold off on official announcements about those release dates until we’re completely comfortable — and likely some insight from the community.” or the stakeholders that the game is taking shape that would impress the rest of the community.”
The Miami-based developer also announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer, Jason Potter, following the appointment of a new board of directors, who remains Nasdaq-compliant and raised $11.32 million in funding through the sale of new shares. dollars secures.
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Featured/top image, INDYCAR IR-18 in rFactor 2, not the IndyCar game.
