Breaking News: Slightly Mad Studios Bought by Codemasters

[G_B]

It's the only real news about SMS since a long time, i'm sorry, it's a good news than to listen extraordinary project with 0 info, 200% better than Project Cars 2 with arcade gameplay....

Long Life To Codemaster but please... please... please... don't make a new Project Cars with a new team as the same disaster team of the Operation Flashpoint, a game name who was killed by CodeMaster after purchased but thanks to Bohemia Studio to continue the story.

PS : Codemaster, buy GTR3 lol, i want my screenhoot simulator

 

[Metla]

This is like Mcdonalds buying out Burger King.

Slight change to the packaging, pretty much the same level slop. Go elsewhere for the premium product....

 

[MarkR]

I quite enjoy Codies F1 & Dirt games, equally, I thought PCARS2 had many fine features such as full day/night, weather and good VR performance, handling was of course variable. VR to F1? F1 career mode to a PCARS2 style racing game...many possibilities.

Both Codies and SMS know how to make games that work on PC and the consoles, that is a big positive.

But where, oh where is the drama?? I would have enjoyed a more Ian Bell style announcement, large bottle of bubbly fizzing off the back of a motorboat, stroking a black cat on a lead, announcing 'the greatest ever collaboration in racing games' that sort of understated thing. Yet I just checked the usual social media feeds and he is very quiet, still early days yet.

 

[Momperface]

i guess sms's good vr will be abandoned now then as CM hate vr

apart from that both companies have poor physics and ffb so nothing lost or gained there

 

[MJP1979]

I think this is very positive, Project Cars finally could be a fun arcade. PCars has a lot of potential but currently is in the middle of nowhere, not a serious sim, not a fun arcade.

The studio head said he wanted to ease up the handling for PC3 so I'd say it's going to be a bit more arcade this time round. Frankly it's rep as a sim is a bit overrated, the cars swing on a pendulum, it's not as sim as some want to believe.

OT: Those worried about AMS2, I wouldn't. Reiza only bought rights to use the engine, Codies have no authority over that. I'm more worried about how monetised PCars will become given Codies recent releases.

 

[Terry Rock]

As long as it doesn't affect AMS 2 in any way...

I was thinking the exact thing.
Some may say it won't but it'll depend on how any contracts for use of the engine are written.
The impact may be marginal since AMS2 was set to independently share technology and information.
It'll be very interesting to see where this goes for Reiza.

 

[stickdeath1980]

Heere's what AMS said

 

[Jonny Austin]

I hope this news makes something like an official IMSA,WEC or BTCC title more likely.

Imagine if Codemasters put the content from F1,GRID,Project Cars 2 & Dirt Rally into an an online version of Iracing & did not charge for content.Just an annual subscription.

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

the rumoured F&F thing is DOA.

Not at all. The press release mentions a Hollywood blockbuster game coming.

 

[Cote Dazur]

As far as our hobby is concerned this is as big a news as is possible. A lot of positive can come out this union. I am hoping for a madness engine, VR supported, F1 2020.

 

[Blashko]

Bought by Codemasters?
Opsss.......It's a good news or not?

 

[Dazmaniac]

Bit ironic for Paul Ruschinsky (ex-head of Evolution Studios who did Motorstorm and DriveClub). when SONY dropped Evolution Studios, he went to work for Codemasters on OnRush. Codemasters then laid the team off as the game didn't quite end up the success they'd hoped, and Ruschinsky was picked up by SMS.

Now he's back under the Codemasters umbrella again.

Also, I wonder what the likes of Kunos, Sector 3 and iRacing will make of this merger?

 

[Dobermann92]

I just hope that they don't implement the horrible DLC monetisation of DR2.0....otherwise they both have talents to share with each other. I wonder what happens to the RX content though.

 

[mantasisg]

I am pretty neutral about these news, I think it will be worse and better at the same time and it will cancel each other out.

A sim/semi-sim will come out each year or two. 1St will be ok, 2nd will be worse, 3rd will be better than first at some things, but worse on others, so it will be just same ok as first, 4th will be worse than 3rd, 5th will be tiny bit better than 1st and 3rd, but still will leave everyone wanting for more, so they will definitely buy the 6th that will come a year later. And they will make sure not to make a title too good like they did with DR1, so no one would be playing it by the next year as it will be time to buy the next one.

 

[Chobonator]

New on the CM blog: PRC Fridays with Austin!

If they start using Madness for everything, that would mean VR for a bunch of new racing series and projects, including F1.

 

[ermo]

Not at all. The press release mentions a Hollywood blockbuster game coming.

Indeed it does.

If I said that I figure that five franchises is a bit much for Codies, would you agree with that?

- F1 stays
- DiRT stays (and will benefit hugely from SMS' tech)
- GRID will merge with Project CARS and become ... something (since there's no point in having PC compete with GRID). It'll be a competitor to Forza Motorsport, Gran Tourismo and up. I have serious concerns that it will not receive enough funding nor a long enough support period, because that's now how Codies' paymasters have rolled in the past.

That leaves the purported Hollywood Blockbuster game, which will likely arrive as a mix of Forza Horizon and the Need For Speed titles of yore. For it to become more than a one-hit-wonder and actually compete with FH on a regular basis going forward, Codies will have to consistently pour considerable budget into licensing, online features and community features on top of adding new stuff and fixes for a much longer period of time than they traditionally do.

Bottom line: My take is that Codies doesn't have the resources (nor the managerial goodwill, never mind deep pockets) to manage four racing franchises well. Three franchises with decent support and top notch MADNESS-based physics is already stretching it. That means that one of the franchises will have to be dropped at some point in the not too distant future. In that respect, it's fifty/fifty whether the racing game or the car culture game gets the axe.

I'd love to be proven wrong, mind you!

 

[Deleted member 6919]

Don't think this is a good move at all, you have 2 developers that produced games that have a huge amount bugs, which the same bugs existed in previous releases, and both were incapable of fixing them..
That is what I love about ACC, you can see the fixes happening and actually improving the sim everytime, and the fact Kunos and his team actually listen to the community, neither of the above did or hardly do..
Still every so often you do see a flying pig..

 

[InsaneOzzie]

The only way I see this merger working is if both sides agree to a fresh new title and build, if they attempt to continue existing titles I don't think it will go off as they would hope. Lets face it both PC2 & F1 have run there course, with CM's F1 being the only release of the 2 that's maintained a following with each release year on year.

We consumers need to demand better standards than we've seen from these 2 dev's in the past, our hobby is no longer just a hobby, it's slowly becoming entry level training to the real deal, and that requires a higher level of realism across the Genre, imo we need to go back to a GTR2 style of race sim, but with the modern data etc behind it. Very few Dev's are reaching beyond the normal "run of the mill" basics we've had for years, we need new initiatives and development to take the Genre forward to greater realism and simulation, like VR, it gave us who use VR a new, more realistic view of and from the cockpit.

Sim racing has come a long way in the past 10 yrs, but it still has a long way to go too.

 

[ermo]

I hope this news makes something like an official IMSA,WEC or BTCC title more likely.

Imagine if Codemasters put the content from F1,GRID,Project Cars 2 & Dirt Rally into an an online version of Iracing & did not charge for content.Just an annual subscription.

Do you honestly think the F1 Licensing people would be fine with their brand being lumped in with "lesser" series?

 

[Dux]

Of course, but it will be rebranded as GRID: Samba

It's 1 past midnight and I should be sleeping but instead came on mobile scrolling this page not signed to my profile cause one I couldn't remember my pass second I am almost asleep but then I read this comment and woke me up from laughing so I had to log in and write you this comment hahahaha. GRID SAMBA , damn ! Bravo!