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iRacing acquires NASCAR's console video game license from Motorsport Games

iRacing has acquired NASCAR's video game console license in a big shakeup for the industry, landing the license from Motorsport Games.

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

iRacing has acquired NASCAR’s console video game license from Motorsport Games in the biggest shakeup to the sport’s gaming space in nearly a decade. The agreement will be announced later this morning after being finalized in recent weeks by NASCAR Team Properties, Massachusetts-based iRacing and Miami-based Motorsport Games. The main scope of the deal is that 704Games, a subsidiary of Motorsport Games, will transfer the license to iRacing, the company that has largely up until now been known for simulator style racing products for amateur and professional race car drivers, instead of mass-market video games. iRacing, owned by Fenway Sports Group’s John Henry, intends to put out a new NASCAR console video game in 2025. Much as it tried, 704Games and Motorsport Games seemed to never be able to produce a game that met the expectations of NASCAR fans, with negative reviews of graphics and gameplay being an almost annual theme on social media in the days and weeks after a release. The publicly traded Motorsport Games also controls IndyCar’s console video game license but had to delay the release of IndyCar’s first official game with the company this year after running into undisclosed issues. The company has indicated in recent public filings that it may soon run out of operating income and that it was exploring transferring the license as a result.

 

[Kacho]

This was such an obvious move. NASCAR racers play iRacing, not that shitty game Motorsport Games put out. Glad they got exposed for their shady business practices. Not even NASCAR promoted that game lol.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Nascar is just as shit and isolated globally as NFL.

 

[SmokedMeat]

iRacing’s subscription based correct? They must be doing well.

 

[KellyNole]

Finally Nascar fully back on the Papyrus Engine. Those were some of the best Nascar games. I have missed them.

 

[calistan]

iRacing’s subscription based correct? They must be doing well.

iRacing's subscription model is nasty. You pay for a car in whatever class you want to race, then they put up a quarterly season with a different track each week, so you have to buy all the tracks if you don't want to have a week where you just have to sit it out.

Then the next season comes up, and sure enough you probably won't 'own' most of the tracks so you have to buy even more of them (at around $15 a pop). And it may well be six months or a year before some of those tracks you bought come up again, so you can only race them in solo practice sessions or rent a server for a private race.

Then, of course, if your annual subscription lapses you can't play any of that stuff again, even offline. I've sunk a lot of money into that game! If EA did that kind of thing, gamers would be going apeshit.

 

[Highway Star]

iRacing's subscription model is nasty. You pay for a car in whatever class you want to race, then they put up a quarterly season with a different track each week, so you have to buy all the tracks if you don't want to have a week where you just have to sit it out.

Then the next season comes up, and sure enough you probably won't 'own' most of the tracks so you have to buy even more of them (at around $15 a pop). And it may well be six months or a year before some of those tracks you bought come up again, so you can only race them in solo practice sessions or rent a server for a private race.

Then, of course, if your annual subscription lapses you can't play any of that stuff again, even offline. I've sunk a lot of money into that game! If EA did that kind of thing, gamers would be going apeshit.

Good to know. Not something I would buy into.

 

[Unknown?]

Nascar is just as shit and isolated globally as NFL.

That's great! Who cares about globalism? Not everything has to be worldwide or cultures will be diluted.

 

[GHG]

iRacing's subscription model is nasty. You pay for a car in whatever class you want to race, then they put up a quarterly season with a different track each week, so you have to buy all the tracks if you don't want to have a week where you just have to sit it out.

Then the next season comes up, and sure enough you probably won't 'own' most of the tracks so you have to buy even more of them (at around $15 a pop). And it may well be six months or a year before some of those tracks you bought come up again, so you can only race them in solo practice sessions or rent a server for a private race.

Then, of course, if your annual subscription lapses you can't play any of that stuff again, even offline. I've sunk a lot of money into that game! If EA did that kind of thing, gamers would be going apeshit.

Yeh the monetisation is awful but they can get away with it because there's no other end-to-end platform like it for organised sim racing.

That said, this is a positive and logical development for the Nascar license.

 

[calistan]

Good to know. Not something I would buy into.

Yeah, it's a real money pit of a game. I played for two years, on and off, and my account says I spent $408.24. Plus 20% tax on top, since I'm in the UK and they only quote pre-tax prices.

All that got me was about 50% of the tracks for a couple of seasons, and after a while most of the tracks I'd bought fell out of rotation and I could only race the built-in basic ones. If I ever want to see any of that stuff again, it's $110 plus tax to sub for another year. The actual racing is really good, but you have to be committed to it.

When I signed up I thought it was meant to be tightly controlled, with stewards to enforce the rules, but I think that only happens in the races they broadcast. For chumps like me, it was a free-for-all.

One time I was leading by over half a lap, it was the best I'd ever driven. With one lap to go, out of nowhere I got shunted into the wall and wrecked. Someone popped up on the text chat to call me a bastard and tell me how much I deserved it, and then he left. So I looked at the replay, and this guy had driven into the pit lane a few laps earlier, and every time I went past he'd drive across the track to try and smash into me. Took him four or five attempts.

I sent the replay file to iRacing, and they said we've dealt with it, thanks for reporting. But the guy's profile showed he was still racing. Obviously they're not going to come down hard on paying customers. The worst thing is you spend an hour or two waiting and preparing for the scheduled race, then something shitty happens and it's a massive downer. Deliberate wrecking wasn't uncommon, so I just gave up on it.

I'd play time trials on my own, if I could, but the entire game is locked behind the paywall.