Motorsport Games Delays Indycar Title Past 2023

Indycar on rF2.jpg
Over the weekend, we learnt that Motorsport Games is delaying its much-anticipated Indycar game further. No longer releasing in 2023, those looking forward to the title are not happy.

Image Credit: Studio 397

It has become a running gag that Motorsport Games is yet to release a game fully developed under its own control. And it is even further from creating a successful simracing title.

Well over the weekend, we found out that the studio is not going to release a good simracing title for at least another year. During an investor call on Friday focusing on earning in Q4 of 2022, the management team announced that the much-anticipated Indycar game won't be releasing in 2023.

A snippet of the call posted to Twitter sees Dmitry Kozko, Chief Executive Officer of Motorsport Games, about the current state of the game. Despite "making strides" in the game's development efforts, the team believes it "will not be in a satisfactory position to release to the community this year."

INDYCAR game cover.jpg


Following the news, Indycar iteself responded to Racer Magazine stating: “We are evaluating this information and remain thoroughly committed to bringing the best quality video game products to the INDYCAR community.”

Will the Indycar game ever release?​

Whilst Motorsport Games said the Indycar game is well along in its development and will be ready for 2024, can we really be sure?

This particular title, along with the previously delayed BTCC game, was set for a 2022 release and has been delayed several times since its announcement. From financial struggles to the invasion of Ukraine, countless setbacks have befallen the Motorsport Games development team.

However, the main blockade on this game's path to release is the health of its studio. At the same time as setting up a call with investors detailing the good, the bad and the ugly, Motorsport Games released their Full Year 2022 Financial Results. Going over the company's fourth quarter and full year accounts, there is one glaring issue that could spell disaster for not just the Indycar racing game.


Scroll down past the good news of DLC packs released for rFactor 2 and improvements to NASCAR 21: Ignition. Skip over the bad news of a more-than-four-million-dollar net loss in Q4 of 2022 alone. And you'll arrive at the announcement that a total 2022 revenue of $10.3 million led to net losses in excess of $36 million.

Given the studio doesn't have a successful and current title to rely on, Motorsport Games is in a difficult situation. Negative cash-flow means they are spending more money than they can make. To top off the bad news for Indycar, BTCC, Le Mans Virtual and NASCAR fans, the financial document states the company currently holds around $6 million in cash. The company goes on to mention that "we do not believe we have sufficient cash on hand to fund our operations for the remainder of 2023" and that further investment is needed.

Last year, we reported on the news that MSG lost its entire board of directors. Around the same time, employees of the company were threatening to leak source code for unreleased games due to unpaid salaries. Based on this latest development, will we be seeing more stories along these lines in 2023?

Do you think we will ever see a Motorsport Games Indycar title release?
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About author
Angus Martin
Angus Martin
Motorsport gets my blood pumping more than anything else. Be it physical or virtual, I'm down to bang doors.

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Aiden237
Premium
davehenrie said:
At least 5 of those Indy tracks are currently available in 3rd party form.
Same for Porti & Fuji
Knockhill, Snett, Oulton, & yes even Silverstone are still available even to new users. (fun fact, Silverstone was NEVER laserscanned content, neither is Portland.)
Stock car ovals are even being tested on LFM now,
so....you might not be able to PAY a company to run those circuits & cars. But all or almost all of them already exist in 3rd party form. (Download Knockhill & tell me that isn't a quality track)
That is part of what being a moddable platform is all about.
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3rd party cool. But a 3rd party is doing the work for a company that owns the licence to make the content themselves.
 
Aiden237
Premium
RichardHessels said:
Keep whining, first they release too soon. The game is not finished.
Now they take their time trying to make a good comeback.

Did any of us lost money to MSG? Or does MSG still owes money to you?

Almost every post here turns toxic lately.
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Then next year, what do they say?

It came out yesterday that NASCAR 23 was never gonna happen. So the company is too optimistic or lacks the personnel to make 5/6 games a year (or currently 1 game a year)

That means a series with good yearly releases will be gameless for 2 years straight.
 
John B. Ellis
Premium
Richard Wilks said:
Do you have all the tracks in the calendar, the oval cars, the race rules, the AI working properly in all those tracks?...

People seem to confuse having some indycar to actually having a game dedicated, like the codies F1 series.
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You’re absolutely right in pointing out the massive difference between the two; however, I would wager that over the course of 2023 & 2024, Reiza + AMS2 + Community modders = a greater potential for anything approximating an IndyCar sim than anything MSGM can deliver.

There is only one force on planet Earth that can save MSGM: a WallStreetBets, ape-fueled short squeeze. And they would probably be on the wrong side of a meme-stock move anyway, given their track record.
 
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Andy_J
Ian Bell said:
As a professional in the industry, it's not the done thing to disparage the competition. I'll go for the very big boys occasionally myself and always punch up but I suspect I'm the 'overlord' here given the context and timing.
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I didn't know Austin was still in your pocket employment Ian. ;)
 
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Marcel Offermans
Premium
John B. Ellis said:
$MSGM is a publically-traded company. Its shareholders—who could anyone on the forum—have every right to level just criticism.
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There is a fine line though between constructive critisism and being negative. So I agree with you too, you can of course be critical, but I would encourage you and anyone else to remain constructive. I don't think anybody enjoys long, negative rants on forums. I certainly don't.
 
Andy_J
Ian Bell said:
He's a Director in our company, doing a fantastic job on Game Design. And as such, it's not the done thing to be making negative posts about the competition. There are certain responsibilities associated with being in his position.
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Oh I see. I didn't realise you had made him him Director. I suppose it keeps him quiet. (again) :thumbsup::D Pcars 4? ;)
 
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John B. Ellis
Premium
Marcel Offermans said:
There is a fine line though between constructive critisism and being negative. So I agree with you too, you can of course be critical, but I would encourage you and anyone else to remain constructive. I don't think anybody enjoys long, negative rants on forums. I certainly don't.
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Given the headline, “Motorsport Games Delays Indycar Title Past 2023”, and reading the reasons behind the delay, I’m not sure this thread is a realistic place for seeking positive affirmations. It is exactly that kind of vacuous rhetoric on the part of MSGM that now contribute to justified feelings of disappointment. Moreover, given their exclusive Indycar license, this story negatively impacts the larger simracing community--not just NASCAR 21 fanboys.
 
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Pete Conway
Premium
Ian Bell said:
He's a Director in our company, doing a fantastic job on Game Design. And as such, it's not the done thing to be making negative posts about the competition. There are certain responsibilities associated with being in his position.
Click to expand...
Being... you gotta mind who's coffee you're pi**ing in?
 
Richard Wilks
Marcel Offermans said:
There is a fine line though between constructive critisism and being negative. So I agree with you too, you can of course be critical, but I would encourage you and anyone else to remain constructive. I don't think anybody enjoys long, negative rants on forums. I certainly don't.
Click to expand...
Whats the matter with "being negative"?

We don't work for you, or MSG, most of the people here in this thread are disgruntled costumers, who were expecting an indycar game, and instead got an empty hand of nothing after an unusable Nascar game. This after the studio to which YOU sold out made an exclusive deal with Indycar that basically excludes any possibility of anybody else having a crack at it any time soon.

So you want a tissue for all this "negativety"?...


I am sick and tired of all this "ohhh poor devs feelings" crap. You are SELLING something, you are not doing us any favours, you are basically a game Dev THANKS TO US THE CLIENTS. So grow a pair and own up to your part of the deal, just like is asked of any of us in our professional activities.
 
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K
Marcel Offermans said:
There is a fine line though between constructive critisism and being negative. So I agree with you too, you can of course be critical, but I would encourage you and anyone else to remain constructive. I don't think anybody enjoys long, negative rants on forums. I certainly don't.
Click to expand...
When a company overpromises and underdelivers, it certainly can expect a lot of negative criticism. And one can certainly suspect that there is something else going on here other than game development.

And frankly, I can't see how anyone could come up with "constructive" criticism for MSG, considering what a mess they have made for themselves. They've acquired licenses for Indycar, BTCC and WEC. None of these have been released, two have been pushed multiple times and one (WEC) is simply in limbo. Have we heard *anything* about a WEC title since they acquired the license? As for their NASCAR stuff, it is widely regarded as one of the worst releases in years.
 
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Andy_J
Ian Bell said:
He's a Director in our company, doing a fantastic job on Game Design. And as such, it's not the done thing to be making negative posts about the competition. There are certain responsibilities associated with being in his position.
Click to expand...
But he has put out some great informative videos calling out MSG (and others). ;)

He called this company scammers and liars. I agree with him. :thumbsup:

 
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O
Ian Bell said:
As a professional in the industry, it's not the done thing to disparage the competition. I'll go for the very big boys occasionally myself and always punch up but I suspect I'm the 'overlord' here given the context and timing.
Click to expand...
Exactly, why walk a tightrope when you don't have to? You got enough on your plate already.

Criticize one thing and it can come back to bite you later. This and "don't make bold claims" are the golden rules. :roflmao:
 
pepucho
We've been years without any exclusive licensed Indycar game and there was not a big criticism about it. Since MSG bought it, I read a lot of aggressive opinions about it. To be honest, I don't know how bad is MSG as a company, I've read tons of texts written of it and -probably- they are right, I don't know, but I would like to know how much criticism we would find in the internet if iRacing was keeping indycar/wec/anything as exclusive content. The more attacks/rants I read, the more tired I feel reading about it. If MSG is not a fair company it will fall sooner or later. I would feel sorry about their employees, but I don't mind about exclusive licensings. iRacing users blamed MSG of preventing them to drive 24h Le Mans. Maybe they should point the finger to their service provider and why it wasn't able to give them a proper race at the french track. If MSG is a scam, we'll see them in a court. Most of us are giving opinions without having a clue about anything. That's my approach. Long life to rf2, by the way.
 
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M
Marcel Offermans said:
There is a fine line though between constructive critisism and being negative. So I agree with you too, you can of course be critical, but I would encourage you and anyone else to remain constructive. I don't think anybody enjoys long, negative rants on forums. I certainly don't.
Click to expand...
Honestly what feeback is expected of a community that sees a product delayed by years and at the same time has any other source of enjoyment of the same product brutally shut down by lawyers?
I'm not a big fan of IndyCar so I can live without but the extremely negative sentiment of the community is more than justified.
Add on top of this that the experience with the BTCC content is that it was finally released on RF2 in bits and pieces summing up to a totally unreasonable price compared to any AAA title focused exclusively on that content and you can easily see why the community is sensing history is about to repeat with IndyCar content and is pretty unhappy.
How about responding to the actual matters instead of blaming it on the community?
 
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