EA has quietly retired Project CARS, the racing game series that was developed by Slightly Mad Studios. After internally announcing that it had made the decision to “stop further development and investment” in the franchise, EA also confirmed that affected staff will be moved into “suitable” roles at the company where possible.
“Today we announced internally an update to our racing portfolio,” an EA spokesperson said to GamesIndustry.biz. “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 prioritize 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.”
The beginning of the end of Project CARS began earlier this year when fans were notified that due to expiring car and track licenses, the first two games in the series were delisted on September 21 and October 3. All three games had previously been published by Bandai Namco prior to the studio being acquired by Codemasters in 2019, and eventually by EA in 2021 as part of its deal to purchase Codemasters.
The first Project CARS game launched back in 2015 and was followed by two sequels in 2017 and 2020, as well as a mobile spin-off called Project CARS Go in 2021. Slightly Mad Studios also developed an official Fast and Furious game in 2020, but its generally seen as the worst use of Vin Diesel since Riddick: The Merc Files.
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