Tag: Motorsport Games

IndyCar has terminated its license agreements with Motorsport Games, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing revealed this week. In the filing, IndyCar cited Motorsport Games’ “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.”

As a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Motorsport Games is required to reveal such transactions and business dealings. The filing ends a multi-year saga between IndyCar and Motorsport Games. Development of Motorsport Games’ IndyCar product was suspended earlier this month.

In the filing, Motorsport Games proclaimed it was “evaluating the validity of [IndyCar’s] notice of termination, including demands for certain payments under the [IndyCar agreement].”

The game developer recently lost control of NASCAR’s license to iRacing and TOCA’s British Touring Car Championship has begun a similar process of termination that IndyCar has. That leaves the FIA World Endurance Championship, and with it, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the last major motorsports entity standing with Motorsport Games.

Read the full SEC filing HERE.

Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles says the NTT IndyCar Series he oversees is continuing to monitor the progress and developments taking place with its chosen video game producer, Motorsport Games.

“We are in regular communication with Motorsport Games to get the information that we need to decide what’s best for us going forward,” Miles told RACER.

“We’re not at the place yet where we have chosen which path that will be, but it is a top-of-mind question that we’re engaged in.”

The update from Penske Entertainment follows the latest news from TOCA, owners of the popular British Touring Car Championship series, which announced the dissolution of its licensing relationship with Motorsport Games on Monday.

“That agreement exclusively licensed Motorsport Games to produce interactive video gaming products relating to the British Touring Car Championship,” TOCA wrote. “It is with regret that TOCA now advise that it has been forced to terminate that agreement forthwith, due to ongoing fundamental breaches of the agreement by Motorsport Games. Having been given sufficient latitude to rectify those contractual breaches, unfortunately Motorsport Games has failed to do so.

“In order to protect the reputation and intellectual property of the BTCC, including those of its participants and partners, TOCA had been left with no option but to terminate the agreement and immediately withdraw all licensed BTCC rights that were provided to Motorsport Games under that agreement. TOCA is aware that this news will come as a huge disappointment to our hundreds of thousands of fans, many of whom were eagerly anticipating the release of a new BTCC game… and we very much share that frustration, due to Motorsport Games being unable to fulfil its contractual commitments.”

The BTCC news follows NASCAR’s October announcement which confirmed it would be departing Motorsport Games and partnering with iRacing to launch a new game starting in 2025.

Together with @iRacing, we’re set to deliver a brand-new NASCAR simulation-style console game in 2025 with everything you’ve been asking for.

Every Driver.

Every Track.

Every Feeling.

Everything. pic.twitter.com/iXxb2bxgLh

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 5, 2023

It leaves IndyCar as one of the last holdouts, having signed with Motorsport Games in the summer of 2021. Despite enduring multiple delays in the delivery of the game which was initially scheduled for 2023, Miles says Penske Entertainment should have a decision on where IndyCar is headed with a gaming vendor before the arrival of 2024.

“I think it wouldn’t be later than the end of the year,” he said.