Codemasters Acquires WRC License; New DiRT Rally in 2023
Codemasters has signed an exclusive agreement with the FIA. Under the agreement, the British studio will develop WRC games between 2023 and 2027. The release date of the new installment of the DiRT Rally series was announced.
The recent announcement of DiRT 5 is only a part of Codemasters' rally plans. The company has signed an exclusive agreement with the FIA to develop a game under the World Rally Championship license; (via GamesIndustry.biz). It will not be another installment of the WRC series - this one will receive two more installments, the first of which will launch on September 3. Only in 2022 will the FIA agreement with Bigben Interactive, the publisher of the series, expire, and in the following year the first WRC games from Codemasters will be released, including both PC and mobile titles. The first installment of the new series will be released in the fiscal year which will end on March 31, 2024, and the followinh installments will be released over the next three years. In addition, Codemasters is to take care of the development of the franchise's esports scene.
However, this is not all, because the press release also mentiones another project we heard about some time ago. We are talking about a new installment of the DiRT series, developed by the main studio associated with the franchise (DiRT 5 is developed by a separate developer within Codemasters). As we read, the team is working on another DiRT Rally, which will be released even before the launch of British developer's WRC game. So it looks like racing fans will not be bored in the coming years.
