Summary
The World Rally Championship (WRC) has announced that French video game holding company Nacon will once again publish the WRC game series.
Nacon previously published WRC for almost a decade, taking over the series in 2013 and overseeing the release of seven instalments: WRC 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and Generations, all of which were developed by one of the company’s subsidiaries, Kylotonn.
Round Two for Nacon
After the expiration of WRC’s licensing agreement with Nacon, the license was acquired by Codemasters, best known forDirt Rallyand Formula One games. While developing the game that would become EA Sports WRC, Codemasters was acquired by Electronic Arts.
However, Codemasters and EA Sports announced earlier this year that development on future WRC titleshad ceased.
The PC version of EA Sports WRC is known to be buggy, which is why the game currently holds a “Mixed"review score on Steam.
“The agreement covers the development and publishing of the official WRC games and esports competitions, granting NACON exclusive rights for PC and consoles for six seasons, from 2027 through 2032,“the announcement reads.
It’s unknown if Nacon will be delegating the series to Kylotonn once more, or if another one of the publisher’s studios will be given the task. The holding company owns approximately ten studios, most of which are based in Europe.
Alain Falc, chief executive officer of Nacon, added more corporate platitudes: “This new venture marks a major milestone: a fully reimagined project driven by a passionate and specialised team, with a clear ambition to elevate rally games to new heights.”
The first game in the second era of Nacon’s WRC stewardship is expected in 2027.
