Blind Trust in Motorsport Games To Bring Esports Revolution in Racing Backfires Completely as NASCAR & IndyCar Suffer Gravely

Motor racing video games have always been massive in the racing community but things are not looking good for the future. Motorsport Games released the last NASCAR game which came out in 2021. However, it didn’t take long for fans to reject it outright due to several bugs and glitches. The video game developer promised two new games which had fans excited for the future, but has failed to deliver on both fronts.

After the buggy disaster which was NASCAR Ignition, MSG sold its NASCAR rights to iRacing. However, there still was hope for the developers who had promised the first console IndyCar game in 20 years. But recent developments as dashed the hopes of motorsport games enthusiasts. IndyCar officials recently announced that they have moved to terminate the series’ exclusive video game and esports event licenses with Motorsport Games.

Amid massive layoffs, Motorsport Games’ IndyCar promise falls flat

This development comes after Motorsport Games lost one of their UK clients, the British Touring Car Championship, revoked their license after massive delays in developing a BTCC video game. There has been trouble within MSG as the company confirmed that it had laid off a whopping 40% of its workforce.

Along with the layoff, Motorsport Games also completely shut down one of their Australian studios which was reportedly fully dedicated to making the IndyCar game. The product’s first look was supposed to be released by September this year. It had been delayed till 2024 and the company had a brand new CEO by April this year.

All this chaos and uncertainty left Penske Entertainment with no choice but to terminate the agreement. According to sources, MSG did make a lot of progress in the game’s development. Every current track, drivers, series officials, and the most well-liked liveries had been scanned for development.  According to IndyStar, sources close to the production revealed last week that several tracks were awaiting final approval.

“(IndyCar) stated that its decision to terminate the IndyCar license agreements was due to (MSG’s) alleged failure to satisfy certain of its obligations under (those agreements), including making IndyCar racing series video gaming products available in the United States and facilitating a minimum number of IndyCar racing series esports events,” MSG officials wrote in an SEC filing dated November 8.

However, Penske Entertainment has a problem with the termination of the agreement. MSG still owns the technology and the assets of the IndyCar game. Their CEO, Stephen Hood, recently suggested that they were open to looking at other opportunities to develop the game.

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IndyCar officials hoping MSG would go the NASCAR way

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In a quarterly investment call the week before, Hood stated, “(MSG) still retains all the technology and assets (in regards to IndyCar’s video game), and we’re currently identifying opportunities to resume development of the title elsewhere within the business with the hope of maintaining oversight and task control.”

It would be an issue for Penske Entertainment if Motorsport Games went ahead with developing the IndyCar game under a different name. To that end, they would be hoping that MSG does something similar to what it did with NASCAR, selling the technology and assets to a different video game developer (iRacing in the case of NASCAR).

While unlikely, MSG might go ahead with their IndyCar plan independently. That would be cause for massive drama in the racing esports community. MSG and Penske Entertainment will need to come out with a solution soon if a situation like that is to be avoided.

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