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.
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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

M
tr1v1um said:
"Once again you completely leave out the fact that this statement you posted was in response to iRacings original statement."
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At the end of my post I stated: "The link to the official media response from IndyCar:"
tr1v1um said:
You only repeat the information given in the original iRacing statement wich got corrected by Indycar and MSG.
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I practically quoted the exact press release, (and attached the link to the said press release) by MSG/IndyCar! Did you not read it?!
tr1v1um said:
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.
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iRacing have made a workaround to run the "official/unofficial" iRacing 24 hours of Le Mans by including it in their endurance series championship. Applying common sense would mean this was also possible for IndyCar, however, it obviously is not due to the legal implications of the MSG/IndyCar agreement. Why would iRacing go through the trouble to create a race for Le Mans, and then leave their IndyCar fans wanting? Your logic is obviously flawed.
tr1v1um said:
But I will leave it at that, because it's simply my imagination.
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It's quite clear to see that it is your imagination
tr1v1um said:
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?
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Maybe because IndyCar don't feel like launching another sh*t storm with their fanbase after these last 2 years? And, maybe because MSG can't even afford to pay their staff right now, let alone pay lawyers to take legal action against some obscure mod group?
tr1v1um said:
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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I've just explained it.
 
T
mozzie said:
At the end of my post I stated: "The link to the official media response from IndyCar:"

I practically quoted the exact press release, (and attached the link to the said press release) by MSG/IndyCar! Did you not read it?!

iRacing have made a workaround to run the "official/unofficial" iRacing 24 hours of Le Mans by including it in their endurance series championship. Applying common sense would mean this was also possible for IndyCar, however, it obviously is not due to the legal implications of the MSG/IndyCar agreement. Why would iRacing go through the trouble to create a race for Le Mans, and then leave their IndyCar fans wanting? Your logic is obviously flawed.

It's quite clear to see that it is your imagination

Maybe because IndyCar don't feel like launching another sh*t storm with their fanbase after these last 2 years? And, maybe because MSG can't even afford to pay their staff right now, let alone pay lawyers to take legal action against some obscure mod group?

I've just explained it.
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That you call RSS or VRC some obscure mod group shows that you have no idea of how lisencing works. They are companies selling sim software. I think you aren't aware that Porsche took legal action against Enduracers - some "obsure" modding group - because they released a free mod that is now known as the Flat Six mod for rF1. In the case of RSS or VRC, Indycar would have to take legal action, and they would propably have every right to do it as those studios are selling cars that are obviously IP of Indycar/Dallara. MSG - same as iRacing btw - aren't holding the IP, it's Indycar. Again, what you suggest is pure speculation and has nothing to do with what's going on in the real world out there, otherwise the Indycar content would have disspeared from all platforms and sources by now. Wich isn't the case for pretty obvious reasons. As said, you can blow up the issue as much as you want and pump hot air into a ballon until it bursts. It won't change the fact that it's still filled with hot air.
 
B
Premium
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
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Sure all true but not being able to host the Official Event or broadcast of such events is vastly different than what keeps on stating here which is absolutely false. As long you didn't try to pass it as and official event most likely you would be fine. Call it "FastOval-SOO" , use generic skins(not you even need to this extent), and hold the race on a different date, problem solved. Official name or not at the end of the day it's still a pretend event regardless of name or platform its held on. How many leagues had the legal right to host the Official Indy500 race prior to the MSG deal? (my guess would be NONE).
 
D
Again going way back, Nascar 2 had 'almost' every track, but Sony had the rights to Daytona for a stand alone console game. Papyrus/Sierra was prohibited from including that track by Sony. Even the fantasy track named Volusia ran afoul of Sony's lawyers.(Name & LIKENESS)
 
Mike Kadlcak
Exclusive licensing is a big BS … didn’t they all learn from the history where EA had Porsche in their grabs for trillion years? It was such a cool thing when AC finally managed to get the first Porsche license and bring us so many cool DLCs.
 

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