Publisher EA has the well-known racing simulator Project Cars discontinued. Employees of Slightly Mad Studios will collaborate on other publisher projects whenever possible. Whether EA will close the studio is not yet clear.
Slightly Mad Studios has of course had eventful years. In 2019, the developer was acquired by Codemasters for $30 million, along with the rights to Project Cars. In 2021, Codemasters was taken over by EA, which acquired all Codemasters licenses.
EA has now discontinued the series because, after an assessment, it “sees no more long-term growth potential for the series.” For that reason, the publisher has chosen to stop further development and financing of the series.
EA admits the decision was a difficult one, but the company wants to prioritize experiences that fans prefer. That’s why the publisher wants to focus on ‘its racing portfolio, licensed projects and open world experiences’.
In short, Project Cars is not profitable enough for EA. Former CEO of Slightly Mad Studios Ian Bell is not happy about EA’s new policy for the studio. He expressed his frustration on Twitter:
EA, keeping on being awesome… I said my bit and I stand by every word as they continue to prove them.
How are those numbers (sorry I mean people, with hopes, dreams and families) looking, at the bottom of those the spreadsheets?
— Ian Bell – Something Unique and Massive Coming. (@bell_sms) Nov 8, 2022
Although the relationship between EA and Bell had already soured for some time. Bell revealed in a interview on youtube that the cooperation with EA has been very difficult for years. When the studio shipped its first game, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed, in 2009, EA offered the developer $1.5 million to make a Shift 3 as well.
Bell accepted the proposal, but two weeks before development, the project was canceled without warning. Since Slightly Mad suddenly had no current projects, the studio was in trouble. Something that EA cut even harder by stealing key employees away from the studio.
That made Bell and the other employees of Slightly Mad very angry, as the studio had to start from scratch. After which they made Project Cars together with Bandai Namco. Which has now been cancelled.
What do you think? Good business decision from EA? Or has the publisher already liquidated enough studios?
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