With reports coming out about the future of Motorsport Games, many are beginning to wonder about the future of NASCAR console gaming. However, Motorsport Games potentially losing the NASCAR license may not mean exactly what some may think.
If Motorsport Games loses the exclusive license, then NASCAR really has two options. They can either open up the license to anyone who wants to create a NASCAR video game or find another company to exclusively develop NASCAR console video games. What do both of these options look like?
If NASCAR were to open up the license, that would mean that multiple different companies could make NASCAR console video games. This has happened before, as in the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were three distinct NASCAR video game franchises. There were the PC simulations made by Papyrus with games like NASCAR Racing and NR-2003, the EA Sports “NASCAR Thunder” Series, and the NASCAR Heat Series which produced games like NASCAR Dirt to Daytona.
Many people herald this as the “Golden Age” of NASCAR console gaming, and they feel that opening up the license could force publishers and developers to innovate and try new things. Seems perfect right? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that, and the major wrinkle is the benefit of an exclusive license.
The exclusive license means only one company is allowed to publish/develop video games for NASCAR. Ever since 2004, every NASCAR video game released has been based on an exclusive license, and there is a good reason why NASCAR and other sports continue to license their games in this way. The business reasoning, quite frankly, is as simple as how much money they can make.
If the license is not exclusive, NASCAR cannot charge as much to individual companies to create officially licensed video games. This is simply because the market is crowded, and the return on investment for game publishers is therefore less. Some people will prefer one game over the other.
If the license is exclusive, NASCAR can charge significantly more to one game company to make these games every year. NASCAR gets more money upfront from the license, and they can have better control over the product. Exclusive licenses also tend to work as is evidenced by the Madden NFL series.
EA Sports has been the exclusive developer of NFL simulation video games since 2005. While it is criticized by many, the game still sells. Madden NFL 23 was the third best-selling video game of 2022.
Fans also want to play that sports game with the actual teams and players. 2K Sports lost out on the exclusive NFL license in 2005, so they created a new football video game, All-Pro Football 2K8, with generic teams. The game did not get a sequel despite it being praised by critics for its’ gameplay.
Long story short, exclusive licenses work, and they make business sense to both game companies and those who sell the licenses. All this to say that it is incredibly likely that NASCAR will go back to an exclusive license at some point. Now, with that in mind, what does it mean for the next game specifically?
In short, this means that it’s going to be a while before the next NASCAR game is released. As we said in the news article about Motorsport Games potentially losing the license, it takes about three years for a Triple-A publisher to make a game from the ground up. If Motorsport Games loses the license, another company will have to create a game from the ground up.
This long wait between games is evidenced by recent NASCAR gaming history. EA Sports’ last NASCAR video game was NASCAR 09 released in 2008, and the next game, NASCAR The Game: 2011 developed by Eutechnyx, was released in 2011.
Eutechnyx’s last true NASCAR game, NASCAR ’14 was released in February 2014. 704Games and Monster Games came in to take over the license, and they released NASCAR Heat: Evolution in 2016 with a copy-and-paste NASCAR ’15 in between. It was the same cycle between Monster Games and Motorsport games with NASCAR Heat 4 (2019 release), a copy and paste NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 release), and NASCAR 21: Ignition (2021 release).
There is also no guarantee that this game is going to be good right off the bat. Generally speaking, what people consider to be some of the worst NASCAR games in history fall under one or two descriptions: 1) a new developer/publisher or 2) a new console. Here is a look at some games that were panned by audiences.
Regardless of whether or not the game is exclusive, it will have these two factors working against it. It will be the first NASCAR game for a new developer, and it will be the first NASCAR game for the 9th generation of consoles.
That does not mean the next game will be bad inherently, but, it’s essential to know that it probably will be a bit rocky in spots. It’s possible the game could somehow be amazing, but history says to temper expectations.
In conclusion, Motorsport Games not having the exclusive license would just be the beginning of a long, long road for NASCAR console gaming. It would be a big first step, but, at the end of the day, it is only a step.
Another race weekend in the books. While Ryan Blaney battled back from several pit road setbacks to win his second straight race at Phoenix, other drivers were much to be desired. It was a big win for Penske but for several others, they leave the first “real” race of the season scratching their head with a lot that they need to figure out. Here are the biggest losers of NASCAR’s Spring 2026 Phoenix race weekend.
I’m afraid that this is starting to be habitual. Another race weekend at RCR for Kyle Busch, another terrible result. Well, the finish wasn’t exactly awful. While 17th is hardly up to Kyle’s standards, it’s about as good as it gets anymore for the two-time champion who hasn’t won a race in nearly a hundred starts.
To start things off, there was a reason to be cautiously optimistic about the future of that RCR No. 8 Chevy. New crew chief. Personnel changes. A new Chevy body. He even scored the pole for the 68th running of the Daytona 500 last month. But, since then, it has been a sharp slope downward. He was mostly a non-factor in the first three races. And, today, it seemed like the No. 8 Chevy was out to lunch. They unloaded slow. They qualified in the back of the pack. And, before Stage 1 even ended, Kyle was running 34th with no apparent issues and went a lap down to leader Ryan Blaney. To add insult to injury, Kyle Bush had a tire go down on him three times today. More than any other driver. It appears to be back to the drawing board for team No. 8.
You could say that the Hendrick No. 48 team had a rough weekend in general. But I think it would be more accurate to say that the entire start to 2026 has been catastrophic. Heading into today’s race, even with Bowman starting the first three races of the season, the No. 48 team was 36th in points, last among all full-time drivers. Even Cody Ware was ahead of him. If that’s not bad, I don’t know what is.
To rub salt in the wound, their driver missed today at Phoenix due to showing symptoms of vertigo. So, Anthony Alfredo was into sub and…it went about as well as you’d expect. He went a lap down early and never recovered. He got caught up in the incident involving Joey Logano and DNF’d. Officially, they scored a 33rd finishing position. This is the worst start Bowman could ever imagine, considering that he’s in a contract year.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I’ve lost my marbles. “Come on, dude! Penske just swept the weekend! How can they be losers?” Hear me out. Let’s start first with the two other Penske drivers, shall we? Joey Logano caused not one, but two multi-car pileups, one involving his Penske teammate, Austin Cindric. Cars were utterly destroyed. Before that, both Cindric and Logano were running solidly in the top 10.
So, it’s not for a lack of speed that they make our Biggest Losers list. The reason they’re listed here is that a lot of their problems today, if not all of them, were self-inflicted. Logano was driving sloppily and that took out Cindric. And even race winner Ryan Blaney almost lost this race on pit road numerous times. Rookie mistakes by the pit crew constantly had him charging from behind. Pit road penalties. He was like a yo-yo going back and forth throughout the field. What saved him in the end was that, on that last restart, Blaney took two tires and Christopher Bell took 4. If that had not happened, it is extremely possible that Blaney ultimately would have lost the race and it would have been because of their numerous mistakes in the pits.
They got lucky this week. They probably won’t get that lucky again. They need to clean up those nagging, senseless mistakes.
Ole, Danny boy. If Alex Bowman’s seat is the hottest in the series, Daniel Suarez has to be the second hottest in the garage. That No. 7 car has been a revolving door of drivers for the last several years and it looks like Suarez is shaping up to be Spire’s latest victim. It’s the same old story with the team: they show impressive speed in qualifying and even early on in the race. But rarely do they ever put a full race together. That criticism isn’t just for Suarez, it applies to the team across the board.
But Carson Hocevar is the team’s golden child. He’s not going anywhere. And the team seems pretty high on Michael McDowell at the moment. That leaves Suarez looking like the odd man out, a seat-warmer, if you will. He needs to perform. And, he’s done well to start, admittedly. But he qualified 5th for today’s race. He even earned a few stage points in the opening stage. Then, he faltered and left the race with an unceremonious whimper. Ultimately, after he was no longer a factor, he was caught up in a mid-race wreck. He finished 30th. That’s a tough pill to swallow for the Mexican-born driver. If he wants to keep his ride next year, he needs to show stark improvement in the coming weeks. I have a strong feeling that that ride is about to be a highly sought-after commodity once silly season rolls around.
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The first checkered flag of the 2026 rendition of the NASCAR West Coast Swing (as abbreviated as it is) has officially flown. It was an exciting race, full of close, tight-cornered racing, a plethora of tire issues littered throughout, and a couple of heartbreaking, hard hits. Surviving it all was Ryan Blaney, who captured the flag in the Straight Talk 500 at Phoenix Raceway. He survived pit road mishaps and passed a total of 49 cars to win the race today. It marks his 18th career victory, sweeping the weekend for Team Penske. So, for Blaney and Team Penske, the race was the highest of highs. Not everyone escaped unscathed, though. Here are the key takeaways from NASCAR’s spring date at Phoenix.
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Following a relatively clean first stage, Stage number 2 and beyond was littered with cautions. Most of these cautions were a result of tires going down after only about 20 laps or so of use. But the caution on Lao 216 was purely driver error. Joey Logano, who was running 7th at the time, made a move down on the apron approaching the finish line. Chaos ensued. Here’s what happened.
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