SimBin Studios Makes a Shock Return!

[Paul Jeffrey]

The legendary SimBin Studios name is to make a shock comeback to sim racing, with industry veteran and former Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe and Route 1 Games producer Allan Speed taking the reigns of the new UK based concern, in collaboration with Sector3 Studios.

SimBin, responsible for such classics as GTR2 and the RACE series of sim titles, sadly closed its doors back in 2014, only to find many of its former employees find a new home as Sector3 Studios, and continue development on the last SimBin product, RaceRoom Racing Experience. The "new" studio will be based in the North West of England (yes, I'll be asking for a site visit) and will be focused of developing "cross platform titles for the current and next gen platforms, primarily in the racing genre".

"We are extremely excited to announce the collaboration with newly formed SimBin Studios UK being headed up by Allan, his industry knowledge and talent network will provide the perfect spring board for our future strategy and let’s not forget the revival of the Simbin name which has a long, rich and successful heritage in delivering some of the best racing titles to date" said Chris Speed, CEO of Sector3 Studios.

With an enviable heritage in racing simulations and a positive track record with community engagement, it will be highly exciting to see what the future holds for the company, and how the announcement will effect the desire for RaceRoom Racing Experience to continue with licencing the WTCC series, an historically well embedded associate of SimBin.

Coming alongside the announcement is news that SimBin will be partnering up with Mathias Lauda "to provide his expertise, insight and support for their up and coming racing projects".

Son of three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda, Mathias is perhaps best known for his time in the German DTM series and more recently driving an Aston Martin in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

More news to follow....

Excited? Do you think SimBin can regain its former glory? What do you hope from the new studio? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[CCKaren]

I may be wrong on this , but I don't think they are the same. As a bunch of the employee's from Simbin walked off and started S3 , creating a whole new sim. I don't see how Simbin and S3 would even be willing to work together. I may be totally off base here , as I wasn't around when it all happened. I'd like to know though.

Sector 3 is a group of SimBin people who formed up after SimBin collapsed from the disaster that was the first few years of R3E. They didn't keep the SimBin name as far as I know because there was some location contract holding the SimBin name and they wanted to move the operation. The use of the SimBin name now says that's likely expired or been resolved, since the studio is now in the UK instead of Sweden. I don't know how accurate that story is, but it's the one I've always seen when the story of SimBin's collapse is told.

As for the link, SimBin job listings are on the Sector 3 site, a Sector 3 email address is used for contact details on the SimBin site and the new head of SimBin is the head of Sector 3's brother. They're pretty much 2 studios from the same company.

 

[DaVeX↯]

As for the link, SimBin job listings are on the Sector 3 site, a Sector 3 email address is used for contact details on the SimBin site and the new head of SimBin is the head of Sector 3's brother. They're pretty much 2 studios from the same company.

THIS!!!
Also Sector 3 is going to leave the "experience" content system, I think we will have a lot of games now, something like GTR3, WTCC 16, DTM 16, etc etc...and Raceroom will be back to be their online portal (like it was in the past with Race07), after that they will port some of them to console too...

 

[Beaware]

GTR1 , GTR2, GTR Evo ... !!! GTR3 !!!

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

I have a hard time understanding what's Simbin and what's S3 at this point...

The fact that they announced their aims is cross-platform means a title to compete with Pcars, AC as i see it, an all purpose sim with DLC packs post release.

We may see mods for it, but the devs won't make tools or actively help.

 

[Ghoults]

its a free to play game R3E ... after that you choose what you want ; even a traditional game is pay to play , you buy the download or the disc ; i dont see any difference between a dlc or just buying a car ....
i find the sim racers general i want it all for free model sucks ; no one thinks twice about buying a beer a coffee a soda and r3e the prices are around that level ....
we spend thousands on hardware and addons to our pc but piss our pants and become outraged at paying a few euros for content ...

Andi

Take 60€ worth of content and sell it in drips and drops for 300€. Then when it doesn't sell blame the consumers for "wanting it all for free".

And we don't spend thousands on hardware. Maybe a percentage of sim racers do but it is hardly the norm.

And again it is not few euros but few hundred euros.

It is not free2play either. It is free to download a demo with dlc sold on top of that. Just like with live for speed you download a demo and then buy car/track packs on top of it. Free2play means you can earn content by playing the game which r3e doesn't do. Had r3e chosen business model that is not so damn expensive they might not have gone bankcrupt. The failure of r3e is the fault of the development team. Not sim racers who did not spend hundreds of euros into their nickle and dime racing game.

 

[natedogg1867]

Take 60€ worth of content and sell it in drips and drops for 300€. Then when it doesn't sell blame the consumers for "wanting it all for free".

Well, if you would really prefer, I could toss a suggestion to Sector3 and tell them to scrap the entire game and go the Codemasters route. They certainly could release a standalone DTM game for $60. Same with ADAC, and WTCC. Luckily though, they actually care about their customers and price those items fairly.

They do have more content than just about any other sim out there sans iRacing. And fully licensed series arent exactly cheap by any means. And R3E has 3 of those...

And again it is not few euros but few hundred euros.

If you buy everything individually and separately, which is highly inefficient. Same with going to any store. People who care will take the time to compare prices and find the best value. You can do that in R3E too with the various sales, combo packs, or last years 'all in 1' deal.

It is not free2play either. It is free to download a demo with dlc sold on top of that. Just like with live for speed you download a demo and then buy car/track packs on top of it.

Yes it actually is F2P. You are trying to play semantics but doing it poorly.

You get multiple classes of cars and numerous tracks to use in single player, leaderboard contests, solo, or in multi player. Along with all of the other free competitions that use content you havent paid for. Not to mention you get access to rules and everything else. Nothing is gimped.

Paying for more cars and tracks just expands what you are able to play. It does not get you more features or anything like that.

You get the full game, albeit a small slice of the total package of what is on offer.

 

[Lars Hansen]

Hmmm....

I don't really care about the Simbin name, it's only a name.
Doesn't necessarily mean the company will produce anything worthwhile.
I am infinitely more interested in what this means re. R3E.

Now, this is pure conjecture, but if the two studios are to work in 'collaboration' and Simbin is to focus on 'cross-platform', this could be very good news for R3E.
A console-version of R3E will almost inevitably also mean a move to the Unreal engine.
And a console-version would also mean a cash-flow increase.

Of course, the flip-side of that coin is that it might mean a complete focus on consoles and the quiet dismantling of Sector3.
I'm assuming that Simbin is also owned by KW (or subsidiary thereof), and thus the licenses can be transferred between the two companies, and since the original Simbin already got asset-stripped.....sorry, got a corporate restructuring....and changed into S3, it's not that far a stretch to imagine it going the other way.

Guess we'll see.
But I would dearly like an official comment from Sector 3 in the coming week.

 

[seco46]

If they use Unreal4 the graphic part is ready:

 

[Boby Kim]

But I would dearly like an official comment from Sector 3 in the coming week.

Well...S3 is as fast as a turtle so maybe next year

 

[Lars Hansen]

Well...S3 is as fast as a turtle so maybe next year

Well, if the turtle is small enough, you can throw it and get some pretty decent speeds.
(Kids, don't try this at home!)

 

[DaVeX↯]

Well, if the turtle is small enough, you can throw it and get some pretty decent speeds.
(Kids, don't try this at home!)

Do it OUT of your home!!!!You need an open space to throw it a decent speed avoiding walls...

Btw, why not a Sector3/SimBim interview?

I suspect the SimBim reborn is near to the "not-rF3" project...

 

[Phil Davies]

The mystery deepens.KW Automotive is involved in Simbin it appears.
Here's a link to what's registered at Companies House in the UK https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10377580
One of the Directors of Simbin you'll notice is Klaus Wohlfarth the Founder and MD of KW automotive.

 

[M D Gourley]

The mystery deepens.KW Automotive is involved in Simbin it appears.
Here's a link to what's registered at Companies House in the UK

Gosh...Isn't it scary that you can just look up someone's details like that...lol

 

[Will Mazeo]

Gosh...Isn't it scary that you can just look up someone's details like that...lol

That's how they get to call you and wisper "I know what youd did last summer"

 

[natedogg1867]

The mystery deepens.KW Automotive is involved in Simbin it appears.
Here's a link to what's registered at Companies House in the UK https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10377580
One of the Directors of Simbin you'll notice is Klaus Wohlfarth the Founder and MD of KW automotive.

Is this really all that surprising?

Do people completely forget history or something? RaceRoom started out as a game by SimBin... KW/RaceRoom were associated with the game from its inception. There are even RaceRoom banners in Race 07!

It is known that KW/RaceRoom own RaceRoom Racing experience, so they were clearly highly involved with SimBin.

How is it any stretch that KW/RR is associated with a re-introduced SimBin now?

You dont need to dig into business licenses on a government website to make this connection...

 

[CCKaren]

Is this really all that surprising?

Do people completely forget history or something? RaceRoom started out as a game by SimBin... KW/RaceRoom were associated with the game from its inception. There are even RaceRoom banners in Race 07!

It is known that KW/RaceRoom own RaceRoom Racing experience, so they were clearly highly involved with SimBin.

How is it any stretch that KW/RR is associated with a re-introduced SimBin now?

You dont need to dig into business licenses on a government website to make this connection...

The initial thought when SimBin first rose from its grave was that S3 were going looking to make a new game away from KW/RaceRoom control. That was a big part of why I was interested at first but if KW and RaceRoom are still pulling the strings I'm much less interested.

 

[DaVeX↯]

Is this really all that surprising?

Do people completely forget history or something? RaceRoom started out as a game by SimBin... KW/RaceRoom were associated with the game from its inception. There are even RaceRoom banners in Race 07!

It is known that KW/RaceRoom own RaceRoom Racing experience, so they were clearly highly involved with SimBin.

How is it any stretch that KW/RR is associated with a re-introduced SimBin now?

You dont need to dig into business licenses on a government website to make this connection...

Not a problem if KW is involved, we are just doing a brain storming exercise...
Please follow me...
I have a company...
I close it...
I rebrand it...
I re-open it...
I am still selling a racing sim...
I open a new one with the name of the old one...
both sell the same product (racing sim)...
what the hell I am doing?
This is just a mind exercise...
Please play with us...

 

[Boby Kim]

Has somebody got a can of faith for me? I ran out

 

[DaVeX↯]

Ok more difficult now...

I have a company...
I close it...
I rebrand it...
I re-open it...
I am still selling a racing sim...
I open a new one with the name of the old one...
both will sell the same product (racing sim)...
I am working with the son of Lauda...
Lauda's son (Mathias) was working with Ian Bell for PC...
Ian Bell was from simbim...
Ian Bell moves to Singapore for work...
Lauda's son (Mathias) has a videogame company on Singapore...
Lauda's son (Mathias) was a DTM driver (now a WEC one)...
my games are based on DTM and GT cars...
Lauda's son (Michael) is a Vita4One driver on Blacpain GT3...
Vita4One is a team sponsored by KW...
KW is involved with me (Sector3) and with SimBim...
all the titles we produced were based on ISI engine...
ISI licensed rF1 engine to Reiza...
ISI licensed rF2 engine to Studio 397...
ISI is working at new racing sim wich will not be the new rF...
ISI announced new deal with Studio 397 just before SimBim reborn...
what the hell I am doing?

Ok I am pushing it hard, but you should admit is a good mind game...are we in the golden age of sim racing?

 

[Will Mazeo]

ISi did not left rF1 engine to Reiza, they still own it and have the rights of it
Actually ISI move to let rF2 go was pretty smart. You know when you do something and after it is done you imagine how much better and easier you could have made it? Pretty sure this is ISI before letting rF2 go