EA Project Cars

EA has been reshuffling its racing division following its acquisition of developer Codemasters, and that appears to have resulted in some unfortunate casualties. The first of these has been confirmed this week by EA (via GamesIndustry.biz): Project CARS is officially cancelled.

The racing franchise has been in development at Slightly Mad Studios for around a decade, with the first game launching back in 2015. The studio and its franchise were then picked up by Codemasters, before EA snapped them all up last year.

Here's what EA had to say on the cancellation of Project CARS:

"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."

Speaking of licensed IP, EA's internal restructure may well have killed off another Codemasters franchise. This one hasn't been confirmed by the company just yet, but Insider Gaming is reporting that the reshuffle has also resulted in the cancellation of the DiRT series. That particular revelation is only a rumour for now, but it makes a lot of sense considering Codies will be developing WRC games from 2023.

What do you make of this move? To be expected with EA? Leave your thoughts down in the comments below.

[source gamesindustry.biz, via insider-gaming.com]