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Motorsport Games’ last hope at saving any sort of reputation has been dashed. Their highly-anticipated IndyCar game will not happen as IndyCar officially terminated its’ agreement with Motorsport Games according to an SEC Filing. What it does is show why NASCAR left Motorsport Games.
Since Motorsport Games bought the NASCAR and IndyCar licenses, they have made precisely one original video game regarding either property. NASCAR Heat 5 was a reskin of NASCAR Heat 4, and NASCAR Rivals was essentially a Nintendo Switch version of NASCAR 21: Ignition, so, NASCAR 21: Ignition is the only one we will count. The game was also terrible.
Talking about why this game was so bad is like beating a dead horse, but, it’s hard to find a game that was more universally panned than this one. However, the issue was further exacerbated by the lack of content. No truly new console NASCAR game came out in 2022 or 2023, and a NASCAR Heat 5 DLC was panned at release in 2023.
Motorsport Games did even worse with IndyCar. They released no game despite getting the license more than two years ago. The only thing released regarding the IndyCar game is a trailer that showed next to nothing regarding the actual game.
Not only did Motorsport Games release bad content related to NASCAR, but they also released no content related to IndyCar. On top of that, they released very little content related to NASCAR. If there is either no content or bad content when it is released, then why stick with Motorsport Games?
Motorsport Games has been in big financial trouble for a while now. A financial report in the summer showed that Motorsport Games lost $8.2 million back in the second quarter of 2022, and that is what sprung them to look at selling the NASCAR license.
Many hoped that Motorsport Games selling the NASCAR license would give them the cash flow needed to at least get the IndyCar game done. After all, IndyCar has not had a video game released in nearly two decades. IndyCar needed this game, but storm clouds were on the horizon.
The IndyCar game status was called into question in early November when reports surfaced that Motorsport Games had laid off employees, including closing down the studio that was developing the IndyCar game. Now, IndyCar has terminated its relationship with Motorsport Games, and, it seems financial issues are not done with Motorsport Games.
If they do not have the cash to make a quality game, then why stay with them? Motorsport Games seemingly did not have the resources required to even make a game, and, that fields the potential for no content as is evidenced by the lack of an IndyCar game.
Overall, this entire IndyCar situation shows why NASCAR left Motorsport Games. They did not release good content, did not release enough content, and they gathered financial troubles as time went on. All of these are reasons why NASCAR is now with iRacing, and it seems IndyCar is following suit at least in the department of dropping Motorsport Games.
