After parting ways with EA, WRC gets new home and six-year deal to "reboot" rally series
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I wouldn't hold your breath. Word is, those recent EA layoffs hit a lot of the Codemasters people, including the teams working on their rally games. They mostly kept the F1 team because that series inexplicably sells tons every release (never been an F1 fan myself, but there does seem to be an appetite for those games). Anyone not on the F1 team was moved to another internal EA team whose name escapes me at the moment and they're working as a support team for others.
wrote on 28 May 2025, 12:18 last edited byI was talking about Nacon (the new/old WRC publisher) not EA or Codemasters, but agreed.
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How was the EA/Codemasters WRC title compared to the Dirt Rally titles? I didn't buy it because it has Denuvo DRM, even on Steam.
wrote on 28 May 2025, 12:44 last edited byI have both. EA WRC looks, feels and runs WAY worse compared to Dirt Rally 2.0, and that's on my fairly beefy 5800x3d / 7800 xt desktop machine. Dr2.0 also runs perfectly on my steam deck, while I haven't even bothered to try running EA WRC on it (it would run like shit if it ran at all, plus the install size is like a gajillion GB).
On the upside, the tracks are way bigger / longer in EA WRC, some of them are a bit more interesting, and there's a cool pseudo-roguelite mechanic in the campaign mode where every week you choose what to do (main race or side race to appease the sponsor, recruitment of team members, resting, etc.). That said, I couldn't bring myself to finish a single season due to how pathetically janky the driving is.
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This post did not contain any content.wrote on 28 May 2025, 13:37 last edited by
I loved Grid and Dirt 3, but haven't really played any of the games since. I played Grid 2 a little bit when it went on sale. I'm interested if this new one is as good as those were.
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This post did not contain any content.wrote on 28 May 2025, 15:02 last edited by
Eeeew, Nacon. No thanks.
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I loved Grid and Dirt 3, but haven't really played any of the games since. I played Grid 2 a little bit when it went on sale. I'm interested if this new one is as good as those were.
wrote on 28 May 2025, 21:50 last edited byDirt 3 was absolute garbage. Dirt Rally was great, if not a bit spartan, and Dirt Rally 2.0 is what I can recommend as possibly the best rallying game since Richard Burns.
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Seems to still have Denuvo and even has EA anticheat, which means no Linux support, even for single player.
wrote on 28 May 2025, 23:49 last edited byBleargh, I'm glad I didn't buy it. I'm making preparations to move to Linux.
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Couldn't tell you I'm afraid, I also haven't bought it. I grabbed DR2 because I saw it really cheap on sale and just wanted a rally sim rather than seeking out a specific one
wrote on 28 May 2025, 23:49 last edited byCool, no worries. I keep meaning to buy DR2 on sale too. I will, eventually.
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I have both. EA WRC looks, feels and runs WAY worse compared to Dirt Rally 2.0, and that's on my fairly beefy 5800x3d / 7800 xt desktop machine. Dr2.0 also runs perfectly on my steam deck, while I haven't even bothered to try running EA WRC on it (it would run like shit if it ran at all, plus the install size is like a gajillion GB).
On the upside, the tracks are way bigger / longer in EA WRC, some of them are a bit more interesting, and there's a cool pseudo-roguelite mechanic in the campaign mode where every week you choose what to do (main race or side race to appease the sponsor, recruitment of team members, resting, etc.). That said, I couldn't bring myself to finish a single season due to how pathetically janky the driving is.
wrote on 28 May 2025, 23:52 last edited byYikes! Good to know, thanks! I'm doubly glad I didn't buy it now. I still have to buy DR2 anyway.
Interesting about the stages and mechanics. I love long/realistic stages, but that's not enough to overcome the other issues.
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I loved Grid and Dirt 3, but haven't really played any of the games since. I played Grid 2 a little bit when it went on sale. I'm interested if this new one is as good as those were.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 00:20 last edited byI'm not sure what crack this other dude is smoking but dirt 3 was awesome. I loved all the drifting time trials. Totally reminded me of Project Gotham racing.
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I'm not sure what crack this other dude is smoking but dirt 3 was awesome. I loved all the drifting time trials. Totally reminded me of Project Gotham racing.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 01:39 last edited byI loved Project Gotham too!
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I wouldn't hold your breath. Word is, those recent EA layoffs hit a lot of the Codemasters people, including the teams working on their rally games. They mostly kept the F1 team because that series inexplicably sells tons every release (never been an F1 fan myself, but there does seem to be an appetite for those games). Anyone not on the F1 team was moved to another internal EA team whose name escapes me at the moment and they're working as a support team for others.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 02:21 last edited byBut isn't that a good thing for this? It means the old Codemasters team is no longer at EA, and maybe they'll find a job here now.
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But isn't that a good thing for this? It means the old Codemasters team is no longer at EA, and maybe they'll find a job here now.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 02:52 last edited byIn a perfect world, sure, but I only know of one time when most of a team stayed together after being laid off and that was when Sony shut down Evolution Studios and around 80% of them were picked up by Codemasters. It's not likely to happen again and the Nacon has multiple fully staffed racing teams, including the one that made the WRC games before EA bought Codemasters and destroyed them.
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In a perfect world, sure, but I only know of one time when most of a team stayed together after being laid off and that was when Sony shut down Evolution Studios and around 80% of them were picked up by Codemasters. It's not likely to happen again and the Nacon has multiple fully staffed racing teams, including the one that made the WRC games before EA bought Codemasters and destroyed them.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 03:05 last edited byYeah, it's not likely to happen, but still EA wasn't making good use of them. I always hate to see layoffs, but making people with knowledge available, especially when other studios end up with a demand for them, is good. I'm sure they won't pick up the entire team, but I'd be surprised if some of them don't end up there.
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Yeah, it's not likely to happen, but still EA wasn't making good use of them. I always hate to see layoffs, but making people with knowledge available, especially when other studios end up with a demand for them, is good. I'm sure they won't pick up the entire team, but I'd be surprised if some of them don't end up there.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 06:05 last edited byEA rarely makes good use of the devs it consumes and destroys, unfortunately. This isn't even the first racing team that I was a fan of they've destroyed. Hell, it's not even the first British racing team they've destroyed. They're truly a plague on the industry.
While I definitely hope the people laid off all land on their feet, having a handful of people from a large team show up at another studio doesn't really do anything for us. We'll never get another DriveClub or OnRush or Dirt 5 because the magic that team made has been scattered to the winds.
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EA rarely makes good use of the devs it consumes and destroys, unfortunately. This isn't even the first racing team that I was a fan of they've destroyed. Hell, it's not even the first British racing team they've destroyed. They're truly a plague on the industry.
While I definitely hope the people laid off all land on their feet, having a handful of people from a large team show up at another studio doesn't really do anything for us. We'll never get another DriveClub or OnRush or Dirt 5 because the magic that team made has been scattered to the winds.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 07:00 last edited byWe'll never get the same thing, but I'm always hopeful that some of the people have the knowledge, resources, and desire to spin up new studios at least, where they can make the games they've always wanted to make but weren't allowed to. Certainly they won't all end up at the same place, and only a few with this studio, but their experience now gets spread to new places outside of EA where I think we can expect better things.
We'll have to wait and see. Hopefully we get cool indie experiences, like The Art of Rally, as well as more expensive projects, like whatever the WRC game becomes.
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Yikes! Good to know, thanks! I'm doubly glad I didn't buy it now. I still have to buy DR2 anyway.
Interesting about the stages and mechanics. I love long/realistic stages, but that's not enough to overcome the other issues.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 07:24 last edited by baropithecus@lemmy.worldBe sure to grab it (DR 2.0, that is) before it's inevitably delisted, it happens with all heavily licensed games. Even the original Dirt Rally is still fantastic if you have an older rig IMO, and it was going for two bucks years ago.
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Dirt 3 was absolute garbage. Dirt Rally was great, if not a bit spartan, and Dirt Rally 2.0 is what I can recommend as possibly the best rallying game since Richard Burns.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 07:47 last edited byI will not hear this slander, Dirt 3 was awesome! Dirt 4 and 5 were meh though.
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Dirt 3 was absolute garbage. Dirt Rally was great, if not a bit spartan, and Dirt Rally 2.0 is what I can recommend as possibly the best rallying game since Richard Burns.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 08:13 last edited byDirt 2 is still one is my favourite racing games. It just gives me the right vibes. 3 felt lonely in comparison
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wrote on 29 May 2025, 08:44 last edited by
If you're able to, get the version with the all the DLC. I think I paid £5 for that vs £3 for just the base game. The extra stuff is well worth getting
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I have both. EA WRC looks, feels and runs WAY worse compared to Dirt Rally 2.0, and that's on my fairly beefy 5800x3d / 7800 xt desktop machine. Dr2.0 also runs perfectly on my steam deck, while I haven't even bothered to try running EA WRC on it (it would run like shit if it ran at all, plus the install size is like a gajillion GB).
On the upside, the tracks are way bigger / longer in EA WRC, some of them are a bit more interesting, and there's a cool pseudo-roguelite mechanic in the campaign mode where every week you choose what to do (main race or side race to appease the sponsor, recruitment of team members, resting, etc.). That said, I couldn't bring myself to finish a single season due to how pathetically janky the driving is.
wrote on 29 May 2025, 11:41 last edited byWell, you wouldn't get far even trying to run EA WRC on the steam deck, as they added kernel level anti cheat after launch so it's now incompatible with Linux.