In the largest change to the video game market for NASCAR in over a decade, iRacing has acquired the license from Motorsport Games. The deal, which is especially for simulation-style console racing games, was recently completed by iRacing’s NASCAR Console Game, and Miami-based Motorsport Games. It will be made public later this morning. The primary focus of the agreement is the transfer of the license from 704Games, a division of Motorsport Games, to iRacing, a firm that has previously been mostly recognized for simulator-style racing goods for amateur and professional race car drivers rather than mass-market video games. John Henry, the owner of Fenway Sports Group’s iRacing, plans to release a brand-new NASCAR console video game in 2025.
Even though it tried, It seemed as though 704Games and Motorsport Games could never create a game that lived up to NASCAR fans’ expectations, with complaints about the visuals and gameplay becoming a near-yearly trend on social media in the days and weeks after a release. The publicly traded Motorsport Games, which also holds the console video game license for IndyCar, had to postpone the release of the series’ first official game with them this year due to unforeseen problems. The business has recently disclosed in public documents that it may soon run out of operational income and that, as a result, it was considering transferring the license.
NEW START: The agreement with iRacing will give NASCAR a new beginning and give the company a chance to prove its mettle in the console market. Since 2010, iRacing has been as NASCAR’s official simulator racing software, assisting the sport innovating when real-world racing was suspended in the early stages of the epidemic. The business continues to collaborate with NASCAR on its esports initiatives, and iRacing has assisted NASCAR in creating actual racetracks, such as the one used for the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Coliseum and the Chicago street circuit. Dusenberry Martin Racing, which in 2015 purchased the console license from Eutechnyx, which had been developing games for the sport since 2011, changed its name to 704Games. In 2018, Motorsport Games purchased the majority ownership of 704Games. EA Sports and NASCAR collaborated before 2011.
Tony Gardner, president of iRacing, said in a statement that this was a “opportunity we couldn’t pass up” since it was the console gaming franchise that the business had been pursuing. Up until now, the firm has relied mostly on subscriptions to its simulator racing platform to generate income. In order to get past the console troubles, NASCAR has been attempting to diversify its reach far beyond traditional racing games in recent years.
To achieve this, it has made collaborations with companies like Roblox and Rocket League and announced new mobile smartphone games. Nick Rend, the company’s managing director of esports and gaming, is in charge of NASCAR’s gaming division. According to a statement from Rend, “NASCAR is ready to work with iRacing to deliver a best-in-class simulation style NASCAR console game,” thanking Motorsport Games “for its efforts over the years.” The sale of the license, according to Motorsport Games CEO Stephen Hood, “is the result of a thorough, strategic review of where we believe our company should be headed over the longer term.”
