IndyCar has terminated its license agreement with Motorsport Games.
Confirmed:
- Two licenses between the parties cancelled with immediate effect
- IndyCar demanding payments from the failed partnership
Context:
IndyCar agreed this deal with Motorsport Games back in 2021, with the first game of the partnership originally set to debut this year. Instead, behind-the-scenes turbulence at the video games developer has seen this fail to come to fruition.
The news follows Toca, rights holder of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), terminating its licence with the developer and iRacing purchasing Nascar’s video game rights off Motorsport Games.
Comment:
A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing read: ‘IndyCar stated that its decision to terminate the IndyCar license agreements was due to the company’s alleged 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 and facilitating a minimum number of IndyCar racing series esports events.’
Coming next:
IndyCar must now go back to the drawing board in the world of video games and esports, with no clear target for the return of an officially licensed IndyCar game. The wait goes on for a series that hasn’t seen an official release since ‘IndyCar Series 2005’ released in 2004.