Breaking News: Slightly Mad Studios Bought by Codemasters

[justfdl]

to those who hate sms / pc2: they shouldn't have bought it. No one forced them. They should have been informed first. (I waited 1 year before I had it, wait for all your updates, I don't disappoint. because I knew what I expected.)
"triggereds" in 3..2 ... 1 ...

Well, I bought in in PC1 in a very early phase, and I have to admit that I was not that happy about the result comparing to their own advertisment about realistic physics. So yes, I only got PC2 way after the release and at a discount. Played it for about 10 hours, is not my cup of tea. But I see why some are complaining about it, as Mr. Bell is always promising the very best possible realism and then fails to deliver. Which is a shame, because the game does a few things a lot better then the others, I really like the career mode and especially this race engineer, where you can choose what behaviour you would like to change and he tells you what to do. Makes setups a lot more accessible, which is a good thing in my book.

 

[Miguel Amorim]

WOW!!! Expecting great games from now on... Maybe not sims, but great games nonetheless

 

[Chobonator]

f1 with VR but **** physics

Do you prefer Project CARS 1 or 2?

 

[Lentoveloz]

I like Codemasters, but there's a basic problem for us virtual racing fans: we'll have more people thinking the same way. Dirty and SMS = Codemasters way.

 

[A man with a Harmonica]

Two arcade black holes have collided, just be sure your wallet staying out of the horizon of events.

 

[Rot Teufel]

Codemasters on its side has Grid which did not exactly break the Internet, so they definitely needed to beef up that part of their portfolio.

I am a bit worried about the other "sim" developers (Kunos, Reiza, Studio 397..), as they have to manage the increasing complexity of racing/driving simulators without having huge resources at their disposal or a huge market to make a profit from. Let's be honest, if I am the FIA, SRO, etc I want a game to promote my series, I am not really interested in how realistic it is, I want visibility. This makes it quite hard for small developers to find good sponsorships.

SMS never has been in the "full sim" market. They offered with PC something that wasn't fish or meat in terms of physis sadly; i have enjoyed more Shift series than PC 1 (my 2 cent). Anyway they got a good supporting fanbase, wich allow them to have a sequel and lannunced on Q1 of this current year the upcoming third chapter. The question now is: will thier fanbase follow them in Codie family or not?
With the execption of Dirt Rally (wich for me, it's an accident on the "sim" side of rally game's niche) the actual Codie isn't anymore the old Codie and they never look on the "sim" side. But they deliver good arcades in old ToCA and CMcRR days... Maybe with SMS acquisition those days could be back, but i higly doubt about it...
I'll put aside the greedinees on DiRT 2.0 and the scam of Deluxe Edition, wich was a really low hit for who has bought the game... Full season pass promised, and then, here pay more for the Super Deluxe Edition for the last two season.
The "sim" niche will be always a niche (in terms of pure sales numbers), so basically will be relegated to a certain market imho.
In terms of market competitors (racing games in general), Codie got a stronger grip and gamers loose an indipentedent competitor option.

What engine will they be using going forward, Madness or Ego?
Will Codemasters Project Cars be better or worst?
Will F1 get better with some SMS input?

I doubt Codie will leave Ego for Madness. And this could be bad for Rezia and AMS 2. If Madness doesn't recive any update or official support, could be a financial trouble for Rezia...
Good question, but the more important question will be: it'll come out or Codie will close the project? 'cause they could take all licences and use them on their titles. The last annuncement of PC3 was in july if i remember well... And the game should have been released during this year.
F1 series will have the same formula, it's an annual title, so basically minimum effort for max profit.

 

[Magus]

I blame Paul Rustchynsky

 

[F_B]

[late at the Codemasters HQ]

Marketing manager:
»Minus × minus = Plus! Let’s buy Slightly Mad Studios!«

 

[Boby Kim]

This can't be a surprise for Reiza right? Such take over proces isn't done in one night? AMS2 for mobile and console??
I'll stick to AMS

 

[Alex Harkett]

Will they still make the Mad Box thing they were talking about I wonder?

 

[Enagee]

Both Codemasters and SMS titles have great graphics. But all their titles have short life spans. Iracing, Rf2, Raceroom been out for years with continued development, AC servers are very healthy and new mods all the time.

Codemasters release the same game every year due to their licence (can't believe no VR)
Pc1 had bugs that never got addressed and always hoping the next version will be the one.
I hope something serious is put together and not just milk us like Apple... Pcars plus/Pcars 3S

 

[Case_]

Finally some news the majority of simracing community can uniformly whine about. As already demonstrated perfectly.

GG.

 

[Dylan Yates]

In tomorrow's news: "iRacing have bought out Codemasters, Studio397, and KUNOS".

 

[Rowdy Busch]

In tomorrow's news: "iRacing have bought out Codemasters, Studio397, and KUNOS".

EA enters the chat...

 

[thepharcyde]

You might need to study a little deeper on the subject to find out which kind of games actually bring crowds to sim racing. Codemasters' games definitely are definitely providers of lots and lots fresh blood to our beloved genre.

Every sim racer had an entry game.

Very true....Toca 2 for me, who made that again?

 

[ShredatorFIN]

Hope it doesn't affect AMS2, which I already backed in good faith I don't know how it could affect though

Otherwise... hard to say what comes out of this. Maybe something decent, once in a while? Likely nothing amazing. I reinstalled pCars 2 again few days ago, it spent about 20 minutes on my hard drive

Codemasters... in my eyes their only contribution to driving genre has been Dirt Rally 1-2. The Formula games just feel so mediocre driving wise, the career mode is good but without good driving it's not interesting

SMS... hasn't produced anything good. I was a backer for pCars 1 years before release, when it promised to become "the ultimate sim". The game changed totally during development, at some phase it showed hints of promise, but end result wasn't good. Didn't learn from my mistake and got pCars 2 too. Inconsistent handling, inconsistent FFB

Maybe they produced a good engine for AMS2 (maybe), but they had a lot to learn about making physics and FFB and so does Mememasters. Maybe they can learn together, from each others flaws or something.... or maybe not

 

[Naliport Halulam]

The resurrection of TOCA....

 

[ahermosak]

Who cares?

How dare you?!

 

[pcraenme]

Don’t care about SMS. I was done with that company anyway. I hope it won’t have any negative effect on AMS2 though using the Madness engine, since Reiza will always have my support (same counts for Studio 397 and KS).

 

[murphious]

Might be okay in the end but I'm not holding my breath. I can see Codemasters' PC series using their weak engine after this last SMS version release. Codies bought rights to use names and licenses is all, doubt if SMS proprietary software survives.