Electronic Arts has decided to shelve the Project CARS franchise, the publisher announced in a statement to GI.biz.
According to Insider-Gaming, EA stated in an internal email that all individuals working on the franchise will be shifted into “suitable roles” where possible. Project CARS is developed by Slightly Mad Studios, and was acquired by Codemasters back in 2019.
The report states that Codemasters has a number of major racing titles in production, including Formula One, GRID and WRC 3. Unfortunately, it appears the DiRT series has also been scrapped.
Today we announced internally an update to our racing portfolio. Following an evaluation of the next Project CARS title and its longer-term growth potential, we have made the decision to stop further development and investment for the franchise.
Decisions like these are very hard, but allow us to prioritise our focus in areas where we believe we have the strongest opportunity to create experiences that fans will love. We are focusing on our strengths in our racing portfolio, particularly licensed IP and open-world experiences, and expanding our franchises to be more socially-led with long-term live services that will engage global communities.
Games are at the heart of sports and racing entertainment, and with shifting fan expectations, we recognise the need to evolve our games beyond pure play, providing experiences for fans to also watch, create and connect with their friends.
The last entry in the Project CARS franchise was released in 2020, and suffered a major drop-off in sales compared to the previous game.
At one stage Project CARS 4 was in development, as deleted tweets by the CEO of Slightly Mad Studios boasted that the game would be ultra-realistic.
[Source – Insider Gaming, GI.biz]