In a new report, it has been revealed that the Project CARS franchise has been canceled by EA. In an internal email, EA has confirmed that they will “stop further development and investment” in the series, and the employees working on the franchise will be moved into “suitable” roles wherever possible.
GamesIndustry.biz revealed the internal email today and reached out to EA for comment. An EA spokesperson confirmed that they are indeed dropping the franchise, saying that by doing so, it will allow EA to “focus in areas where we believe we have the strongest opportunity to create experiences that fans will love.” Find the full statement below.
“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.
We are working with everyone impacted by this decision to place them into suitable roles across our EA Sports and racing portfolio, as well as other parts of EA, wherever we can. Our priority now is on providing as much support as possible to our people through this transition.”
The first Project CARS title launched back in 2015, with sequels in 2017 and 2020. However, apart from the first iteration, none of the titles were very well received among critics and fans. It makes sense why EA decided to drop the franchise. However, the publisher has another iconic car game franchise, Need for Speed, up its sleeve with Need for Speed Unbound coming out later this year.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz