Project CARS – SMS Company Structural Changes Coming

Ian Bell posted up an interesting bit of news within the Project CARS forums. He notified all members of upcoming structural changes to the company and that due to Non Disclosure Agreement laws he could not go into significant detail as to what these changes specifically are. However, he did indicate that it is a very real possibility that the chance to invest will close off in the near future. Here is the post in full:

Hi all,

First of all, I’m sorry i can’t go into details on specifics here as it’s all extremely NDA but it’s about 95% certain at this point that SMS will be changing company structure in the sense that we will become part of something bigger and better. This is generally ‘a very good thing’ and will most likely make it such that we will have all funding in place for pCARs and thus will most likely close off investment for members in the very near future.

The terms and conditions of pCARs will remain unchanged for everyone and you’ll get all of the agreed benefits.

What is does mean though is that if you are considering upgrading your tool pack/membership level in the future it might be good to do this within the next 2-3 weeks. 

None of the above is 100% certain but as I say, it’s about 95%

Again, sorry I can’t go into specifics but it’s good for us, good for you and good for the project.

Cheers!

Opinion
On One Hand…
It seems that Project CARS may have found a new investor in order to secure a greater amount of funding. Currently pCARS stands at 1,982,605 Euros and is halfway through it’s funding goal. Current speculation is that it may have found a publishing company.

It is interesting that this may spell the end of the crowdfunded phase of the  project and transition into a new phase of development. A phase that my accelerate the release of the game or possibly dilute it. There have been no details as to if the community investors will still retain the ability to influence development as much as they have. While it is true that Ian said “The terms and conditions of pCARs will remain unchanged for everyone and you’ll get all of the agreed benefits” it doesn’t exactly go into great detail as to what that will mean for the investor in terms of development.

Another thing to note is that it seems like this news was published to all membership levels, indicating that the specifics of this deal were not even released to the most senior membership levels. Part of the unique thing of a project being crowdsourced/crowdfunded is that there is a sense of transparency between developer and community/member/player investor. While it is true that company decisions were not included in the membership agreement of pCARS, those decisions still have an affect on the development of the game. While it is nice to see a heads up from Mr. Bell it is also worrying that the information isn’t available to me as an investor. Transparency is key when it comes to crowdfunded projects and there is certainly a reduced level of transparency when it comes to this announcement. Let me make the decision whether or not this is a ‘very good thing’ before you decide to go through making that subjective decision for me.

On the other….
This could be a very positive thing for the Project itself. It was said from the beginning that the securing of other investors could eventually take place. Perhaps one shouldn’t read too much into a very superficial statement but it never hurts to be critically vigilant in ensuring that certain ideas and principles are adhered to. The purchased benefits and tool packs as laid out on the WMD Portal will remain for respective members at all levels. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they will keep their level of influence on development or that SMS has to adhere to this influence (which in and of itself is a loosely defined term). However,  it also doesn’t mean that the influence is going away so doomsayers may want to keep their trolling to a minimum.  Securing an investor and becoming part of a larger entity ensures a greater amount of commercial success that not only ensures the happiness of those heavily involved in the development of pCARS but for mass development in general. Even if mass development was stripped from pCARS tomorrow it would still be considered a partial success for mass developed games and the future of them.

If anything it seems like Project CARS is going to become part of a larger entity and if so it may have higher chances for commercial success. If you ever thought about being an investing or simply want to be part of a very ambitious and exciting project, now is the time to do it.

In the meantime, all we can do is speculate and play the waiting game.

What do you think about this move by Project CARS? Let us know in the comments or in the Project CARS Forum!

Update: 60 percent of Slightly Mad Studios Automotive GmbH was purchased by investor’s MyLoadBase N.V.   See link for more info

Source: [WMD Portal Forums]