Work On Le Mans Ultimate Will Continue As Motorsport Games Talks To Potential Investors

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Images: Motorsport Games / Studio 397
Sim racers were concerned about the future of Le Mans Ultimate in the light of recent news regarding redundancies and a potential sale of Motorsport Games. MSG CEO Stephen Hood talks about the immediate future of the company.

Employees being made redundant and the possibility of the company being sold - Motorsport Games and Studio 397 had it rough recently, with many sim racers wondering about the future of Le Mans Ultimate as a result. The official WEC game is the only title the company is actively working on, and its 2024 content is not yet complete.

This led to some sim racers fearing that work on LMU would be halted following the recent layoffs, which led to MSG downsizing by about 40%. However, the scenario of no one being left to actually work on the game that some have painted does not come into play, as Motorsport Games CEO Stephen Hood told OverTake.

"Some of the more junior people were let go, but the core team we got now is quite tight", Hood explained. "We looked at what we needed to deliver - the GT3 cars, tracks, a version 1.0 - and the people who are still here are capable of doing that. We have to deliver these, because we were positively shocked by how many players bought the season pass. We thought it would be 5 or 8, maybe 15, but not almost 50% of all DLC sales."

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Keeping The Lights On​

This meant that the short-term mission for Motorsport Games and Studio 397 - which can basically be used as synonyms at this point as Hood pointed out again that MSG is essentially just S397 now - is to keep the lights on for Le Mans Ultimate. They also want to give the game a chance at a future: Hood confirmed that MSG is indeed in talks with potential investors.

A cash injection or full acquisition by one of said potential investors would allow LMU to grow further after the aforementioned content and updates have been delivered. But to set up the company for this, head count had to be reduced to balance the company's expenses and revenues. "In my mind, it's the final piece of this painful, uncomfortable puzzle of cleaning up the business ahead of investment or acquisition, because nobody wants to carry the extra weight. They want to get it under control, make sure the wheel is turning, and then grow strategically", Hood stated.

That does not mean that laying off people was an easy thing to do, as Hood continued: "First and foremost, I apologize to those individuals that were affected. None of those individuals who were let go I ever wanted to say goodbye to. We are very conscious about the impact that it has." Hood also underscored that they were not the ones who made the mistakes that led to this situation.

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"We massively effed up with NASCAR 21"​

Hence, he also understands their frustration. After leaving the company in January 2022, Hood was brought back as CEO in 2023, "and everybody looked to me in a way of "Steve can come back, wave the magic wand - that I don't have - and save the business. It doesn't always work like that. We tried to make the right decisions to put the company back on the right track, but the numbers did not add up", recalls Hood. "We massively effed up with NASCAR 21: Ignition, and our communications after that were not good."

In short, MSG's mistakes from a few years ago still haunt the company to this day, eventually leading to this downsizing to give the company, Studio 397 and Le Mans Ultimate a chance to keep on going. Now, the focus is on doing things properly, as Hood repeatedly emphasized.

And that also means that "we're not going to turn up the servers and say subscriptions are the only way you can play LMU online now. That would be the Motorsport Games of old", Hood addressed a concern of many sim racers when subscriptions were first talked about. "We need to turn the page. And we are working day and night to turn this page."

Le Mans Virtual "On Pause", No Change To rFactor 2 Plans​

Another result of this is that Le Mans Virtual is on hold for now, although Hood still hopes to get the series and official Le Mans 24 Hours event back on the grid in early 2025. "We will do that once we have an investor or a new owner on board. Until then, it is on pause - it would be the wrong approach for driving revenue right now", Hood states. "We would love to do it again, but at the right time."

Meanwhile, plans for rFactor 2 have not changed - not that there were any plans to do more with it before the redundancies. "It was either rFactor 3 or a Le Mans game", Hood looks back. "We were not working on rFactor 2 anymore, so that plan has not changed." Indeed, one could argue that the last really bigger update hit rF2 in October 2023 when the RaceControl online system was implented, which is now also present in Le Mans Ultimate.


Keeping an eye on the path of Motorsport Games, Studio 397 and Le Mans Ultimate certainly is going to be one of sim racing's very interesting storylines to follow as 2024 draws to a close. We will of course keep you updated on what is happening!

What are you hoping for regarding Le Mans Ultimate's future? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our Le Mans Ultimate forum!
About author
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

Comments

Hopefully this doesn't mean the Reiza pack won't be updated in rF2. I know it was in the process of being updated, but Reiza had to make some changes. Maybe after 1.6 is finalized they'll make it happen. Can only hope at this point, not a lot of confidence in S397 devoting any time to it now that they've been downsized and the entire focus is on LMU and survival.
 
May I remind you that KartKraft barely made a public release - labeled as vaporware by people on this very website for a long time before MSG even entered the ring - and that allmost nobody plays it right now? Nascar Heat 5 never made it close to LMU player numbers aswell, barely at rF2 level. If I were a CEO with financial trouble I would bet on my strongest workhorse, not a little pony that barely carries a child. MSG should have focused on one single game at a time and not everything at once, especialy given the fact that they seemed to have people with not enough experience in some areas. Would you give people the go at creating a video game who barely finish anything on their own? I know, I wouldn't ... And I know this strikes with some of the stuff that some people believe on this forum, but this has been admitted quite open by Stephen Hood in one of the last interviews. What else should they do than working the best they can on their most promising product trying to carry what is left out of the mud?
No you may not. You are basically stating you would do the same thing which lead MSG to total failure. That's interesting... there is something you and MSG are not aware of : image. The little costs of fixing Nascar Heat 5 ans Ignition are nothing cimpared to the costs of losing image and trust. Rule number one in business : never betray ypur customers.

You brought Kartkraft qs an example of positive MSG's record. Indeed, and the same for rfactor2, MSG's money did something. But abandoning this game, and closing the studio, was the dumbest thing to do, as it is the most photorealistic racing game ever and optimised under UE4, something no other company has been able to do. It was a high semming point for players and... investors. It was the game which have tonreplace the good old Kart rscing pro, a small but stable income.for the next 15 or 20 years to come.

Nascar Heat 5 and Ignition, as the only modern Nascar games allowed, had to be major games for US players. MSG just cut its root, its own player base. It doesn't have anything to do with players numbers (why playing brojen gamesby the way?), it is just about respect. These games need a few days of full time equivalent, no more.

About what you stated avout the CEO stating the company's employees being not competent to bring better experiences, that's insane, this guy should have been fired few minutes after that statement. That's the most stupid thing to state in front of your customers.

Unfortunately, agains, these incompetent top managers keep on killing companies and jobs. They don't know basic business rules. And you really think you would do the same? Proof are just there.
 
A telling point is the last small bug fix last month. There was an issue playing rF2 while offline from Steam. If that had not been addressed, then rF2 would have died the moment the Steam participation is allowed to end.
Since they did address that one issue, one could suspect they do plan on letting rF2 drift away but still be usable for current owners and leagues.
 
A telling point is the last small bug fix last month. There was an issue playing rF2 while offline from Steam. If that had not been addressed, then rF2 would have died the moment the Steam participation is allowed to end.
Since they did address that one issue, one could suspect they do plan on letting rF2 drift away but still be usable for current owners and leagues.
That's not what I heard.

S397 Staff are under orders from MSG/Stephen Hood to work on Le Mans Ultimate only.

Coutie and AlexS did the rFactor 2 bug fix on their own time for the community.
#Heroes
 
Ya Couite seems like one of the best people in the s397 stable.


.. and Stephen Hood is in charge and has dropped rFactor 2, despite buying the new BTCC licence in April.

Add in the fact that their BTCC content is some of the best in the game and all of sim-racing, that less than 2 years after release they left the whole package broken to the point where they can't even run it in their own official online races ( only s397 would turn BTCC into multi-class racing), and it tells you so much about rfactor2, MS397G, how they do things, and why they are where they are now.

Ditching any maintenance of the dlc, fine - crappy to do - but fine. But then why invest more money in it? Only to then drop the title completely? Bad decision, after bad decision, after bad decision.

This is the kind of crap that turns me, and all my racing mates, off supporting them.
 
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What !

Only 15% brought Season Pass !

Shame on You ! :(
I bought the game early on thinking VR support would come soon (I know, monitor users will probably yawn at someone talking about a tiny niche). It didn't, and when the season pass came out, I thought "fat chance if I can't use it". Then, finally, a fix that made VR just about usable (you still can't do races that require pit stops, as while we now have a HUD, the buttons don't work properly). I wish the developers well, but I can't give them more money till it's broadly working.
 
No you may not. You are basically stating you would do the same thing which lead MSG to total failure. That's interesting... there is something you and MSG are not aware of : image. The little costs of fixing Nascar Heat 5 ans Ignition are nothing cimpared to the costs of losing image and trust. Rule number one in business : never betray ypur customers.

You brought Kartkraft qs an example of positive MSG's record. Indeed, and the same for rfactor2, MSG's money did something. But abandoning this game, and closing the studio, was the dumbest thing to do, as it is the most photorealistic racing game ever and optimised under UE4, something no other company has been able to do. It was a high semming point for players and... investors. It was the game which have tonreplace the good old Kart rscing pro, a small but stable income.for the next 15 or 20 years to come.

Nascar Heat 5 and Ignition, as the only modern Nascar games allowed, had to be major games for US players. MSG just cut its root, its own player base. It doesn't have anything to do with players numbers (why playing brojen gamesby the way?), it is just about respect. These games need a few days of full time equivalent, no more.

About what you stated avout the CEO stating the company's employees being not competent to bring better experiences, that's insane, this guy should have been fired few minutes after that statement. That's the most stupid thing to state in front of your customers.

Unfortunately, agains, these incompetent top managers keep on killing companies and jobs. They don't know basic business rules. And you really think you would do the same? Proof are just there.
Hold on mate. Before you start putting more words into my mouth let's set a few things straight. Nowhere ever did I bring Karftkraft as a positive example of MSG's record. This is your selective reading that gives you this impression. I merely told how Kartkraft was percieved by the majority of people here before MSG bought the IP and I highly doubt - and that's really just my personal guess here - that it would have ever seen the light of day without a company doing that in first place. The mismanagement of that game started even before MSG got into play and I am pretty sure MSG would gladly sell that IP right now. My guess is, that there is simply noone interested and knocking on their door willed to develop a Karting sim, no matter if it is the most photorealistic racing game or not. Do you have any idea how many people actively follow Karting? And it makes even less sense to put people who had issues developing that small title in charge of developing another more high profile title like the Indycar game - because that's a monumental task. And before you crucify me once again, this mistake is incompetence on many levels: that's on the CEO asking the wrong people to do the job and on the people who aren't aware of their own skill levels and experience agreeing to do the job.

As said, MSG danced on too many weddings with a high-risk approach and payed the price for it. That's something I would certainly do different. I would have tried to develop a base platform and acquire licenses one after another to develop focused titles with it - similar to what Codemasters did with great success with the EGO engine and I guess that was ultimately the goal looking at Stephen Hoods history. As for the different Nascar games: that egg is in the basket of iRacing right now so let's see what they bring to the table ...
 
Ya Couite seems like one of the best people in the s397 stable.




Add in the fact that their BTCC content is some of the best in the game and all of sim-racing, that less than 2 years after release they left the whole package broken to the point where they can't even run it in their own official online races ( only s397 would turn BTCC into multi-class racing), and it tells you so much about rfactor2, MS397G, how they do things, and why they are where they are now.

Ditching any maintenance of the dlc, fine - crappy to do - but fine. But then why invest more money in it? Only to then drop the title completely? Bad decision, after bad decision, after bad decision.

This is the kind of crap that turns me, and all my racing mates, off supporting them.
Without going too much into detail here but I wouldn't call the BTCC content broken. It has issues with the balance of the different cars wich is nothing unusal in sim racing games. And why they still keep paying for the license is pretty clear aswell. There are still people buying rF2 and the DLCs for it as wierd as it might sound.
 
Without going too much into detail here but I wouldn't call the BTCC content broken. It has issues with the balance of the different cars wich is nothing unusal in sim racing games. And why they still keep paying for the license is pretty clear aswell. There are still people buying rF2 and the DLCs for it as wierd as it might sound.

I'll go into detail - one cannot use 1/4 of the car pack together with the rest for balanced racing. You call it what you like.

And they still continued to sell the "Touring Cars" dlc after they lost the original license and before the new deal was penned, as weird as that might sound. So I hope there are lots of people buying the BTCC dlc to cover the $225,000 plus half the gross annual sales.
 
I'll go into detail - one cannot use 1/4 of the car pack together with the rest for balanced racing. You call it what you like.

And they still continued to sell the "Touring Cars" dlc after they lost the original license and before the new deal was penned, as weird as that might sound. So I hope there are lots of people buying the BTCC dlc to cover the $225,000 plus half the gross annual sales.
Again, you find this phenomen in all racing games not just rF2 or with the BTCC cars. A EVE is faster than the Spark since day 1 wich makes not just 1/4 of the cars but half the grid unusable. If you want to have perfect balance and all cars to be usable in a competetive environment then sim racing is the wrong place for you unless they water everything down with LE physics. A FWD will allways be harder on the tyres than a RWD and certain cars will just be faster within their category than others.

As for the BTCC license. If this is the right or wrong move needs to be seen. Right now they can sell units with it without too much or any effort wich is in short terms propably more important for them aswell as keeping the profile of the company more interesting for potential investors. Atleast I suspect that this is their idea behind this. 225k + development costs to develop something to increase your portfolio is harder than just spending 225k for a full series. And if not spending those 225k doesn't help your case anyway, then the reasoning behind it is pretty clear. I am not sure if BTCC is really that popular to make that work though - I highly doubt it.
 
... 225k + development costs to develop something to increase your portfolio is harder than just spending 225k for a full series. And if not spending those 225k doesn't help your case anyway, then the reasoning behind it is pretty clear. I am not sure if BTCC is really that popular to make that work though - I highly doubt it.
Sorry, I don't understand what you are trying to say.

Anyway, according to the CEO, "We were not working on rFactor 2 anymore, so that plan has not changed." So the question remains, how many people are going to buy 2021-23, broken BTCC dlc? Enough to cover $225k + 1/2 gross annual sales over 3 years?
 
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Premium
tr1v1um said:
"community" - dk if you can still call it like that because most of the time we are arguing and not racing. And half the people just bomb review products that they have no intention to even use just because they heard bad stories from another person they know. And it's gotten completely irrelevant to judge a product for what it offers and what it doesn't simply because it's developed by company xyz.
It seems to me that you are the one who "argues" with everyone, no matter what others say, you have to argue back.
 
Sorry, I don't understand what you are trying to say.

Anyway, according to the CEO, "We were not working on rFactor 2 anymore, so that plan has not changed." So the question remains, how many people are going to buy 2021-23, broken BTCC dlc? Enough to cover $225k + 1/2 gross annual sales over 3 years?
You look at those 225k + x and think that's it. You completely rule out development costs that go into this. They have a net loss of more than those 225k + x per year. If they spare those 225k +x they are still not save and make their profile for potential investors smaller in short terms. The additional units of rF2 that you have to own to use the BTCC cotent aswell as the DLCs itself is something they can take with basicly zero further investment. At this point it doesn't matter what you or I think about the product, they have to earn money. Increasing the portfolio and profile - aka market value of the company, wich is still one of their targets according to the earnings releases - costs more than just 225k + x over three years, because you first and foremost have to develop the content and features for it. I am not sure if you are aware of this put developing software is very expensive. That's also the reason why they still sell Indycar content eventhough they lost the Indycar deal. Again, it gives return with no further investment for development at this point.

There is one question you have to ask yourself: Would you as company get rid of one of your last selling points in a critical situation if you are looking for investors while the money you spare by getting rid of that selling point actually doesn't save you? And I am not saying that this approach is right or wrong. I am just sharing my observations and pointing out that this is a matter of balancing different aspects and not just the back account. :)
 
It seems to me that you are the one who "argues" with everyone, no matter what others say, you have to argue back.
Thatswhy I said - "we" and not "you" or pointed with the finger at anyone. ;)

I also think there is still a difference between agruing and discussing - wich is something I enjoy and even if it might come across different at times - maybe it get's lost in translation - I usualy discuss things for the sake of getting a more balanced POV on something. When I see someone telling stuff about a product xyz that he doesn't even use, I see no issue with sharing my own experience or to tell people to make their mind up on their own. I have no issues treating LMU like all the other sim racing titles in my library, wich includes basicly everything as I have tried allmost all of them since F1 racing simulation from 1997. Forums would be pretty bland if we had all the same opinion or experience.

I can see @wowbaggers reasoning for example and I even share his POV regarding that spending those 225k quid doesn't look like a smart deal. But sometimes it also makes sense to look behind the reasoning of such desicions or ask why a company would follow such a strategy. It's called a dillema ...
 
Thatswhy I said - "we" and not "you" or pointed with the finger at anyone. ;)

I also think there is still a difference between agruing and discussing - wich is something I enjoy and even if it might come across different at times - maybe it get's lost in translation - I usualy discuss things for the sake of getting a more balanced POV on something.

Dude... Again... Seriously...

Well said...

Far too many people these days pick a sim or developer and treat it like a football team or political party that you can't just change your mind on when they change coach or leader and the whole way the team/party is run changes... What they do is always right and the rest are always wrong...
 
I decided to give LMU a go in VR (Have no issue with rf2 in VR tbh.. runs like the clappers). I bought it (Saturday), tried it, could not get it to perform well in VR so refunded it. But... something was niggling at me. I liked the way it handled, even liked the way it looked... and who can resist a Ferrari 499P!.. so, I bought it again (Sunday) to continue to try and get VR going.

Glad I did.. putting "Post Processing" down to LOW allowed me to ramp up so many other things. Didn't realise PP would have such a major impact so originally set it to High and forgot about it. I now get a crisp VR view (MSAAx8) and everything on High (road reflections low) using godlike in Virtual Desktop (Open Composite).

So, far I am having a blast.

For context, I play AMS2, rf2, ACC, Ride 4, MotoGP 24, F1 22, Dirt 2.0, RallySimFans, DCS, MSFS and all manner of other sims in VR.. Can't get enough of them and I like to give them all a go from time to time.
 
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I decided to give LMU a go in VR (Have no issue with rf2 in VR tbh.. runs like the clappers). I bought it (Saturday), tried it, could not get it to perform well in VR so refunded it. But... something was niggling at me. I liked the way it handled, even liked the way it looked... and who can resist a Ferrari 499P!.. so, I bought it again (Sunday) to continue to try and get VR going.

Glad I did.. putting "Post Processing" down to LOW allowed me to ramp up so many other things. Didn't realise PP would have such a major impact so originally set it to High and forgot about it. I now get a crisp VR view (MSAAx8) and everything on High (road reflections low) using godlike in Virtual Desktop (Open Composite).

So, far I am having a blast.

For context, I play AMS2, rf2, ACC, Ride 4, MotoGP 24, F1 22, Dirt 2.0, RallySimFans, DCS, MSFS and all manner of other sims in VR.. Can't get enough of them and I like to give them all a go from time to time.
VR in LMU is not officially supported....YET..... they are in the process of reworking the entire module.
The last update included some unsupported updates to the current VR that were well received by the VR users, but it is still not a finished part of LMU. I would expect that in one of the new two updates...maybe End of November or January.
 

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