Motorsport Games: IndyCar To Terminate License As Well

Motorsport Games IndyCar Cancels Licenses.jpg
Just a week after TOCA doing the same for the BTCC license, the Motorsport Games IndyCar agreements are set to be canceled as well. The US open-wheel series served the publisher a notice of this intent.

Image credit: Studio 397

The news carousel is not slowing down for Motorsport Games. After TOCA had terminated their BTCC license, it emerged that Motorsport Australia had been shut down. IndyCar fans had little hope left that their favorite series would have a dedicated game soon. IndyCar itself was weighing in its options last week, and appears to have come to a conclusion.

An SEC filing reveals that the premier American open-wheel racing series has delivered a notice to the publisher on November 8 already. According to the filing, IndyCar intents “to terminate two license agreements, each dated July 13, 2021, […] effective immediately.” This appears to include the license to create a dedicated game, as well as one to host esports events and series under the IndyCar banner.


rFactor 2 Content Also Under Threat?​

Based on the wording, this could also include the licensing of content for rFactor 2. The sim had seen the addition of the Dallara IR-18 IndyCar in the specification used since 2021 in early 2022. Other than iRacing, this makes rF2 the only racing simulation that features an official version of the car. Automobilista 2 was on the brink of adding it, but licensing issues prevented Reiza Studios from doing so at the last minute. Instead, the slightly altered Formula USA 2023 appeared in the sim.

Meanwhile, Motorsport Games “is evaluating the validity of INDYCAR LLC’s notice of termination”, according to the SEC filing. However, the allegations in IndyCar’s notice seem to be hard to disprove. The filing states the following as the reason:

INDYCAR LLC stated that its decision to terminate the INDYCAR License Agreements was due to the Company’s (editor’s note: Motorsport Games) alleged failure to satisfy certain of its obligations under the INDYCAR License Agreements, including making INDYCAR racing series video gaming products available in the United States and facilitating a minimum number of INDYCAR racing series esports in events.
Click to expand...
SEC filing informing about IndyCar's intent of terminating licensing agreements with Motorsport Games.

While hardly surprising considering the recent news, the Motorsport Games IndyCar game not seeing the light of day is a bitter pill to swallow for IndyCar fans. The car has appeared in numerous sims and games over time, but the latest dedicated game was released in 2004. For reference, this was while The Split in American Open Wheel Racing was still ongoing. IndyCar Series 2005 portrayed the 2003 Indy Racing League season, which was run exclusively on oval circuits still.

No IndyCar Game In Almost 20 Years​

On the other side of The Split, CART had gone bankrupt and morphed into the Champ Car World Series. Moving in the opposite direction, it did not feature a single oval by its last full season in 2007. In 2008, both series merged again, but had suffered enormously in popularity as a result of The Split.

An official IndyCar game could have been a way to reclaim some of this popularity, even if it was only a fraction. Instead of potentially attracting more young future fans, the wait seemingly continues.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1722228700694106344

Are you going to miss the Motorsport Games IndyCar title? Who would you like to see try their hand at creating a dedicated game for the series? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
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About author
Yannik Haustein
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

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Comments

B
Premium
MadDriver11 said:
Agreements usually have expiration/termination dates. That for instance was the case of the contract between Indycar and MSG. To renew them it takes both parties to agree on that. If for some reason a promoter didn't feel like MSG/S397 are reliable enough they could just decide not to renew/extend.
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you are confusing things.... don't let you dislike for MSG cloud your vision... Contracts signed for the rFactor2 game with ISI or S397 have nothing to do with MSG and their recent contracts. Plus S397 made it clear that after the Silvers-one that they made sure all contracts had no expiration date... There where only a handful of items that had limited time. So far I think Silversone and the Renault F3.5 Series.
 
M
boxer said:
you are confusing things.... don't let you dislike for MSG cloud your vision... Contracts signed for the rFactor2 game with ISI or S397 have nothing to do with MSG and their recent contracts. Plus S397 made it clear that after the Silvers-one that they made sure all contracts had no expiration date... There where only a handful of items that had limited time. So far I think Silversone and the Renault F3.5 Series.
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Contracts are made by two parties. Maybe the licensor has different ideas. You are assuming that any IP owner just passively accepts the conditions S397 wants, which may not be the case. As a matter of fact MSG contract with Indy had an expiration and clauses for the mutually agreed extension which was not automatic (it can be read on the SEC site). Especially exclusive contracts (and I believe F. E is an exclusive IIRC) will never be without expiration. Anyway every contract has a different story so nobody really knows.
Just as a note a lot of ISI/S397 deals were made before they discovered the issue with Silverstone and for those it could be too late to change the clauses.
Anyway, without having seen them it's all speculation whether there is an expiration or not.
 
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Durge Driven
Let the iRacing babies have their bottle.
They can take the Dallara out with the bath water.
Remove it from Steam, modders will tweak that quick smart. :roflmao:
I mean not like it is a big revenue stream and anyone wants to buy rF2 DLC will just pick something else. Big deal.
 
T
davoroni said:
End the exclusivity deals, iracing has a proven good set of tracks and cars, and reiza has such a great version of the open wheelers as well.
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Wasn't it iRacing that has an exclusive deal with V8 supercars though? How would that feel if it suddenly ended?
 
M
tr1v1um said:
Wasn't it iRacing that has an exclusive deal with V8 supercars though? How would that feel if it suddenly ended?
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It would feel better for the community since they could have the same content from multiple sources.
Goes without saying that at least they developed the content and that is at least a good start. Which MSG failed to do for several years basically preventing the community from accessing the content altogether.
 
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D
davoroni said:
End the exclusivity deals, iracing has a proven good set of tracks and cars, and reiza has such a great version of the open wheelers as well.
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Company A signs a deal with Track X.
Company B signs a deal with Track X.
Company A's bigshots ask why they spent money on something other companies can have as well? Why spend money at all says Company A Bigshot if other companies can step on our toes. For that matter, what is all this funding for laser scanning. Didn't we get by for decades without that?
Company A hires intern who worked for a week with Geoff Crammond to recreate GP err ahh Gee PEE racing with solid red, blue, green, yellow, & white cars that look mysteriously like Scalextrix slot cars.
 
B
Premium
MadDriver11 said:
Contracts are made by two parties. Maybe the licensor has different ideas. You are assuming that any IP owner just passively accepts the conditions S397 wants, which may not be the case. As a matter of fact MSG contract with Indy had an expiration and clauses for the mutually agreed extension which was not automatic (it can be read on the SEC site). Especially exclusive contracts (and I believe F. E is an exclusive IIRC) will never be without expiration. Anyway every contract has a different story so nobody really knows.
Just as a note a lot of ISI/S397 deals were made before they discovered the issue with Silverstone and for those it could be too late to change the clauses.
Anyway, without having seen them it's all speculation whether there is an expiration or not.
Click to expand...
but that stuff has nothing to do with this MSG saga.. That can be applied to every single game and developer...
 
B
Premium
MadDriver11 said:
It would feel better for the community since they could have the same content from multiple sources.
Goes without saying that at least they developed the content and that is at least a good start. Which MSG failed to do for several years basically preventing the community from accessing the content altogether.
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That's not true at all... MSG didn't stop anyone from access the content. You just couldn't call it by the official name ...If AMS2 don't have IndyCar it's because they didn't like the price $... Looked like Reiza tryed to circumvent the official license instead. My guess is the big issue was they made it very obvious of what they were trying to sell .... they got their hands slapped that's 100% their fault. So If either iRacing and MSG complained then were within their right to do so. Who knows maybe IndyCAR themselves toke the initiative. One thing is for sure this wasn't the first time Reiza got their hand's slapped. Lastly no-one, zero of the iRacing users lost any of the Indycar Content, tracks or cars or the ability to run the car on any track in the Schedule. MSG /Indycar/LeMans contracts only prevent others from using the official name(s). Personaly I would be very happy with and ASMI DLC in rF2....you can keep the IMSA name in iRacing.... not issues from me.
 
M
boxer said:
That's not true at all... MSG didn't stop anyone from access the content. You just couldn't call it by the official name ...If AMS2 don't have IndyCar it's because they didn't like the price $... Looked like Reiza tryed to circumvent the official license instead. My guess is the big issue was they made it very obvious of what they were trying to sell .... they got their hands slapped that's 100% their fault. So If either iRacing and MSG complained then were within their right to do so. Who knows maybe IndyCAR themselves toke the initiative. One thing is for sure this wasn't the first time Reiza got their hand's slapped. Lastly no-one, zero of the iRacing users lost any of the Indycar Content, tracks or cars or the ability to run the car on any track in the Schedule. MSG /Indycar/LeMans contracts only prevent others from using the official name(s). Personaly I would be very happy with and ASMI DLC in rF2....you can keep the IMSA name in iRacing.... not issues from me.
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Nope. IMS wanted them to have the license but the contract with MSG prevented it. Reiza got Indianapolis out of the conversation but IMS couldn't help further.
Stop inventing things you don't know about and start reading the contract.
Here I help you out

1700178098018.png
 
B
Premium
MadDriver11 said:
Nope. IMS wanted them to have the license but the contract with MSG prevented it. Reiza got Indianapolis out of the conversation but IMS couldn't help further.
Stop inventing things you don't know about and start reading the contract.
Here I help you out

View attachment 707719
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Stop lying to people... Please explain to all of us how after the iRacing IndyCar Licence expire is iRcing is still selling both car and track content then? On top of that show us when the iRacing users lost access to either car or track(s)... Go ahead a simple date and news link to it will suffice.
 
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boxer said:
Stop lying to people... Please explain to all of us how after the iRacing IndyCar Licence expire is iRcing is still selling both car and track content then? On top of that show us when the iRacing users lost access to either car or track(s)... Go ahead a simple date and news link to it will suffice.
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It is very simple to explain, if you read the contract I linked you would know: the contract says the exclusive agreement has no retroactive effect, so basically that means the exclusive cannot be enforced against previously granted licenses but only from the time of the agreement forward.

QUOTE

(f) Notwithstanding any of the foregoing and any other term of this Agreement, this Agreement is subject to the terms of Licensor’s Existing Licenses, and Licensor shall not be required to breach any provision of such Existing Licenses.

1700189707612.png


UNQUOTE

Instead of calling other liars get a crash course in reading, it could be useful.
 
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B
Premium
again you are just eluding that MSG/IndyCar blocked you from accessing Indycar
related content is is 100% false... it's just pure BS . The fact is not one single person lost any access of a single piece of content... just the name thats it... Stop the BS
 
M
boxer said:
again you are just eluding that MSG/IndyCar blocked you from accessing Indycar
related content is is 100% false... it's just pure BS . The fact is not one single person lost any access of a single piece of content... just the name thats it... Stop the BS
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Yes, people on iRacing could still buy the IR18 and IMS. However, iRacing were blocked from officially, (not even calling the Indy 500 something else and hosting an official event), running the IR18 at IMS, or any other real life track where IndyCar run. Furthermore, any private leagues/individuals that were running IndyCar content were not allowed to broadcast their races when using said content- even if they called the Indy 500 something other than Indy 500.

Now, of course iRacer's could still buy IndyCar content, but were severely limited in what they could do with that content. The main driver for iRacing is that people are able to do pickup online racing, that's why people pay the subscription fee! If I buy the IndyCar on iRacing for $12, I expect to be able to do pickup online racing in official races at real life IndyCar tracks, (that cost $15 each), as the content is already on the service.

After the MSG/IndyCar agreement, all of a sudden individuals and leagues were not allowed to broadcast their races at those tracks. That is a severe limitation of use of the content that people paid $'s for. If IndyCar fans joined iRacing to race IndyCar's at IMS, or any other IndyCar track, all of a sudden their options were severely limited in any official capacity.

iRacing isn't rf2 where people are happy to pay their $'s for content and then just potter around tracks against AI, or join leagues. People pay $'s to iRacing to be able to race against other people online, at the drop of a hat. The IndyCar/MSG license practically killed that option for iRacer's.

The link to the official media response from IndyCar:
racer.com

IndyCar responds to iRacing licensing agreement changes

IndyCar has responded to the confirmation that its current licensing agreement with iRacing will end at the close of 2022. IndyCar signed a new exclusivity agreement with Motorsport Games in the su…
racer.com racer.com
 
trichens
Premium
Although MSG appears to be contesting the IndyCar decision, if the exclusive deal is confirmed as being over does that mean that iRacing - and others - can revert to the previous usage? So private leagues can restart broadcasting events without any new arrangement being put in place?
 
M
trichens said:
Although MSG appears to be contesting the IndyCar decision, if the exclusive deal is confirmed as being over does that mean that iRacing - and others - can revert to the previous usage? So private leagues can restart broadcasting events without any new arrangement being put in place?
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Once the deal is officially confirmed as deleted the effects of the contract are over and the limitations should be lifted. Probably iracing would ask confirmation to IMS before restoring the previous habits. Others also may at that point ask IMS to grant other licenses assuming IMS is not planning to pursue another exclusive deal with another developer like iracing
 
T
mozzie said:
Yes, people on iRacing could still buy the IR18 and IMS. However, iRacing were blocked from officially, (not even calling the Indy 500 something else and hosting an official event), running the IR18 at IMS, or any other real life track where IndyCar run. Furthermore, any private leagues/individuals that were running IndyCar content were not allowed to broadcast their races when using said content- even if they called the Indy 500 something other than Indy 500.

Now, of course iRacer's could still buy IndyCar content, but were severely limited in what they could do with that content. The main driver for iRacing is that people are able to do pickup online racing, that's why people pay the subscription fee! If I buy the IndyCar on iRacing for $12, I expect to be able to do pickup online racing in official races at real life IndyCar tracks, (that cost $15 each), as the content is already on the service.

After the MSG/IndyCar agreement, all of a sudden individuals and leagues were not allowed to broadcast their races at those tracks. That is a severe limitation of use of the content that people paid $'s for. If IndyCar fans joined iRacing to race IndyCar's at IMS, or any other IndyCar track, all of a sudden their options were severely limited in any official capacity.

iRacing isn't rf2 where people are happy to pay their $'s for content and then just potter around tracks against AI, or join leagues. People pay $'s to iRacing to be able to race against other people online, at the drop of a hat. The IndyCar/MSG license practically killed that option for iRacer's.

The link to the official media response from IndyCar:
racer.com

IndyCar responds to iRacing licensing agreement changes

IndyCar has responded to the confirmation that its current licensing agreement with iRacing will end at the close of 2022. IndyCar signed a new exclusivity agreement with Motorsport Games in the su…
racer.com racer.com
Click to expand...
Once again you completely leave out the fact that this statement you posted was in response to iRacings original statement. You only repeat the information given in the original iRacing statement wich got corrected by Indycar and MSG. Now you will once again tell us that this is an evil trick to get the poor iRacers infront of the court. Sometimes it makes sense to leave out any imagination and apply some common sense. Now I could simply twist your argument and tell you that this was a quickshot to stir up trouble and not host the events due to lost event names rights. Wich simply boils down to marketing. But I will leave it at that, because it's simply my imagination.

At the end of the day people have their IR18 on all common platforms and can race that content in one form or another and neither Indycar nor MSG will take any action against this as long as you call your race the Indiana 500 - problem solved. RSS and VRC are still selling their Formula USA mods that coincidently look like IR18s. I wonder why Indycar nor MSG hasn't taken any action yet? Can you explain it? I can't. The only clue that I have is that this topic get's blown up to something that it really isn't.
 

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