Motorsport Games appeared on our radar during 2021 when they suddenly acquired rFactor 2, or, to be more specific, Studio 397, the developers of rFactor 2. We'd never heard of them before and wondered who they were and what their plans were.
Background
Motorsport Games was established in 2018 and quickly acquired 704Games, the developers of the official NASCAR games. They subsequently released NASCAR Heat 4 in 2019 and followed it up with NASCAR Heat 5 in 2020. Their headquarters is in Miami, Florida, with offices in England and Russia.
Games
Besides Factor 2 and NASCAR Heat, Motorsport Games are also the official developers of the upcoming Indycar, British Touring Car Championship and Le Mans 24 Hour games. They're also involved in the esports scene with events like the FIA Formula E Championship and the virtual Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Controversial issues
rFactor 2 is a sim racing community favourite, and it was generally disliked when Motorsport Games acquired it. Motorsport Games were seen as an unknown company that had the potential of taking rFactor 2, which was being revitalised by Studio 397 and running it into the ground. However, thus far, this has proven to be wrong, and rFactor 2 seems to be stronger than ever.
More recently, iRacing announced that they would lose their official IndyCar licence at the end of 31 December 2022. The actual content will remain, but all IndyCar branding will be removed. This is due to Motorsport Games being awarded the Indycar license and planning to release the official Indycar game sometime during 2023. This was also not well received within the sim racing community since the Indycar series on iRacing, especially the annual Indy 500 event, was extremely popular. Sadly, this event may not happen again.
Another controversial event last year was the entire board of directors Motorsport Games suddenly resigning. This was supposedly over funding issues and came as a shock to the sim racing community since it had the potential to kill off rFactor 2. Thankfully, that didn't happen.
Final thoughts
We don't have much trust in Motorsport Games, mainly due to their predatory behaviour of acquiring games and official licences without releasing anything. Their internal issues, like the board of directors resigning or a lawsuit brought against them for alleged securities fraud, don't inspire confidence. We dislike the idea of one company holding several official game licences because it kills competition and generally results in the sim racing community receiving poorer quality games.
Sim racing titles like iRacing, rFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa Competizione typically require a long-term commitment from the developers to ensure that their products are continuously updated with performance improvements, new content and new features. Sim racers tend to buy into a title by purchasing DLC regularly and playing it for several years. We're hoping that Motorsport Games treat their upcoming titles like this and don't just make generic games with a year next to the name, Codemasters F1 style, with each new game being essentially a reskin.
Motorsport Games have the potential to create and release some amazing products that we will definitely have a look at during the course of 2023 and beyond. We're especially excited about the Le Mans 24-Hour game that could be something really special.
We're hoping that they are in it for the long run and are committed to supporting the ever-growing sim racing community in the long term and are not in it for a quick buck. We think that Motorsport Games have positioned themselves to be a powerhouse in sim racing, but they need to prove themselves first before trust between them, and the sim racing community can be built.
