EA cancels the Project Cars series

[FS7]

Why am I not surprised by this?

https://www.eurogamer.net/ea-cancels...-cars-series-1

"EA cancels the Project Cars series

Slightly Mad Studios' Project Cars is no more, it has been revealed, with EA confirming its decision to "stop further development and investment" in the racing series.

The news was revealed by our partner site GamesIndustry.biz, and it sees an end to a series that debuted in 2015 - though one whose roots go back much further as a crowdfunded project brought to life by its community.

Bandai Namco went on to publish the first three games in the series, with Project Cars 3 releasing in 2020 - several months after EA had acquired Slightly Mad Studios as part of its takeover of Codemasters.

EA provided a statement to GamesIndustry.biz going into detail on its decision, and what's next for those who were working on the series:

"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.

"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."

Slightly Mad Studios had 150 employees at the time of EA's acquisition, GamesIndustry.biz reports. Ian Bell, who founded the studio in 2009, left the company late last year."

[RyokoMaruyama]

Infuriated to say the least. And whoever recommends AMS2, I'm not interested in the slightest after giving it chance after chance after every update.

[John Hargreaves]

I'd certainly recommend AMS2, I've had a lot of enjoyment from it and there's new stuff coming all the time. Plays great on the Steam Deck too.

[BartZ]

Sad EA killed a good franchise. Makes me wonder if PCars3 outstanding unpopularity was a factor.
Unfortunately, eventually the franchise lost its following and Pcars3 failed to boost it in a spectacular way. Even this forum, it's not super active. It used to be but that was years ago. In Pcars2 era this place was buzzing. Years after PC2 release the game was played and discussed here. Then PCARS3 came and the following started to gradually dissappear.

Anyway, I think AMS2 is a great alternative. By now, imo, it's better than PCARS2 is. Recent updates made the game epic. And ofcourse there's the very excellent ACC albeit limited in car series which it the point of the sim anyway.. Sim community lost a devoloper studio and there's not many of them around. RIP Pcars

[jonah]

They didn't kill it. they pulled pCars 1 and pCars 2 from steam. It's clear that the superior titles 1 and 2 are competing against the most known version. EA isn't going to put any more bucks in to add campaigns, so they are putting all the focus on 3 to make any sales and dumped the previous versions. This is quite appalling to see this at the end of pCars franchise spectrum. It's a great example of how the community and consumers of such products WILL get shafted at the end. It's a unicorn if you find devs that care about you more than money and it's a double unicorn if they can actually balance between the commercialism and delivering a working product. Thank you Slightly mad studios, ty for the driven kms, ty for the experiences, thank you for opening my eyes at the end. The greed, the short lived series, the irony of it all. Hope you're proud of your work Ian, it won't last the test of time. It won't be remembered but as a short lived flight of Icarus.

[Konan]

Be careful what you wish for... That's all i have to say about this,after some members wanted Pc3 to fail in order for SMS to change direction again.
The game itself isn't bad, it's the terrible feedback ( some from people who didn't even play the game) that killed it,and SMS alongside it ...

[cpcdem]

Be careful what you wish for... That's all i have to say about this,after some members wanted Pc3 to fail in order for SMS to change direction again.
The game itself isn't bad, it's the terrible feedback ( some from people who didn't even play the game) that killed it,and SMS alongside it ...

In my opinion, it's the behavior and lies of the management who treated their fanbase like morons that killed it, but of course everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Personally I didn't want PC3 to fail in order for SMS to change direction, it was disappointing that this change had happened, but that's their choice to make and it's all good when it's done in a honest way. But it was done in the complete dishonest way, so yes I was very happy to see it fail because of that. Only for the management of course, it wasn't the fault of (most of) the actual developers, but I'm sure it's not really a problem for them, talented people will always find a good next job.

[Konan]

So you're not at all disappointed that SMS seized to exist?

In my opinion, it's the behavior and lies of the management who treated their fanbase like morons that killed it

Oh really?
So it has nothing at all to do with how some of the sim community shot it down because it wasn't what they wanted? And with "shot it down" I'm being gentle...

Personally I didn't want PC3 to fail in order for SMS to change direction

Do you suffer from memory loss?

but I'm sure it's not really a problem for them, talented people will always find a good next job.

Sure, because there isn't any competition in their field out there at all...

[cluck]

I guess some folk in here just don't like cheeseburgers

[cluck]

I like burgers

Hey, we've produced this amazing new burger, we think it's the best ever. It's all the burger you could ever want

I don't like this type of burger. This burger is crap, you deserve to die. You promised me the best burger in the world, but this one has cheese on it and I don't like cheese. How can you sit there and claim it's the best burger in the world when it has cheese on it. You are liars and I will never buy one of your burgers again

Just about wraps it up