Motorsport Games to Lay Off 40% of Workforce

Motorsport Games lays off workforce.jpg
Sim racing's greatest soap opera storyline has taken another turn. Motorsport Games plans to lay off a large portion of its workforce.

Image credit: Motorsport Games

It is perhaps more than fair to say that there is a very negative perception of Motorsport Games. The studio has been in control of the licences for the British Touring Car Championship, IndyCar and the 24 hours of Le Mans. They have promised standalone titles for each series.

However, Le Mans Ultimate is seemingly to be the only one materialising so far. The FIA WEC/Le Mans game is still looking at a release next month. But even if the game is successful, the reputation MSG has garnered may well prove difficult to overcome.


Now, more reason to feed those negative connotations. The Miami-based studio announces plans to lay off 40% of its workforce.

Motorsport Games Redundancies​

In a recent SEC filing, there is a section called 'Item 2.05 Costs Associated with Exit or Disposal Activities'. The text beneath the heading, makes reference to workforce based predominantly in Australia and the United Kingdom.

The filing claims that the studio needs to reduce its operating costs, and that making them redundant would cost $500,000 at most. Motorsport Games reportedly outlined the plans on 29 October and it aims to complete the workforce lay offs in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.


This revelation comes not long after MSG sold the NASCAR console licence to iRacing. After acquiring 704Games who developed the NASCAR Heat 5 title that MSG published, the company went on to develop NASCAR 21: Ignition and NASCAR Rivals.

One must not forget the many disgruntled employees coming out claiming they had not been paid in time. This included one threatening to leak source code of NASCAR Heat 5, NASCAR 21: Ignition, KartKraft and the unreleased IndyCar game.

What do you make of this latest filing from Motorsport Games? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
About author
Luca Munro
Biggest sim racing esports fan in the world.

Comments

I think reducing fte is a logical step considering the current state of the company. Looking at the list of games MSG has under its wing, I'm quite positive that most attention is on LMU at the moment. They need to make this work for the sake of their role in esports. Selling the nascar license also indicates MSG is narrowing down to the products that matter most to continue operations.
 
How nice layoff the workforce after development is likely about wrapped up on the upcoming title. With all the bugs the game will launch with who will be there to fix it? I wouldn't buy this anything from them at this point even if it isn't junk. It'll probably be junk though!
 
Premium
This is perfectly normal in development lifecycles, but unfortunate for the people being made redundant for sure ( I know, I've been there ). It doesn't make clear which teams are being made redundant though or which games they were working on? Presumably its not Studio 397?
 
Unfortunately for them, the terrible NASCAR Heat and their plummeting sales have compromised their moral and economic reputation. :(:( I wonder if it was right to give them an important and simulation game like Le Mans Ultimate. Let's hope it's not a rubbish and above all that it comes out before total failure. :unsure::unsure:
 
Strange.. Was not the (crap) Nascar games made by russians and the miami based studio? Was not those people the ones supposed to be let go?

As far as I know, the Australia based studio owned by MSG is Black Delta, aka KartKraft/IndyCar game developer, another sinal that the IndyCar game never will come out?
 
Premium
Ah well, didn't really need a crystal ball to see this coming. Shame about the guys losing their jobs.

People like different games so some will be sad for no Nascar, I personally hope the LeMans game is good.

But in my opinion all though its still unfinished, KartKraft has the makings of a great game. Looks good and drives good. But something has always been odd why its never been finished.. so close, yet so far away.

Perhaps that's coz it's in Australia ??
 
How nice layoff the workforce after development is likely about wrapped up on the upcoming title. With all the bugs the game will launch with who will be there to fix it? I wouldn't buy this anything from them at this point even if it isn't junk. It'll probably be junk though!
It all depends on *who* is laid off. If the WEC game was developped by S397, as I've read, then I presume most of these employees are safe. I would think that the people laid off are those who were working on the now defunct NASCAR Ignition franchise and presumably other employees.
 
Very, very sad.
But it's what most wanted to happen reading the most common comments here over the last few years.
Mission almost accomplished.
 
iRacing already have the full Nascar license and announced the NR game coming in 2025 for all platforms. Glad it went into proper competent hands and they also announced that they ditched the Unity engine which was outdated many years ago .
Nascar_Game_Announcement_Social024x963.jpg
 
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