EA is under fire again, and this time it’s the subject of angry Tweets penned by the retired head of one of the publisher’s biggest racing games.
Citing “poor long-term growth potential”, EA announced (opens in new tab) that Project CARS would be ceasing development immediately. The teams assigned to the project are to be redistributed to more profitable ventures within the company. This is potentially focussing their skills on EA's higher-performing counterparts, such as Need For Speed.
Ian Bell, the former CEO of Project CARS’ developer Slightly Mad Studios, took to Twitter (opens in new tab) to voice his disappointment – and to offer members of his old team a new job entirely.
A real Bell-ter
Bell’s sarcastic words (opens in new tab) come off the back of EA’s pledge to move Project CARS’ workers to suitable alternatives “wherever possible”.
The original founder and CEO of Slightly Mad, Bell, left the company in October 2021. Two years into a successful acquisition by UK racing monolith Codemasters, the company was acquired by EA Sports. Bell retired in the firm belief (opens in new tab) that “the studio’s future is now confirmed”.
On November 8th 2022, however, Bell expressed his discontent with the situation as well as his concern for his ex-teammates. “How are those numbers (sorry I mean people, with hopes, dreams and families) looking, at the bottom of those spreadsheets?”, he asks on Twitter.
This tweet predicates two others (opens in new tab) posted on November 9th, wherein Bell states that he has reached out to the Slightly Mad Studios developers to offer them a new position at his new company, Mildly Annoyed Games, as they begin work on a sequel to GTR 2.
Whilst the fate of Project CARS has been sealed, there is still hope yet for EA Sports to impress audiences in 2022. After the Origin client’s removal from PC platforms and EA Sports FC taking up the mantle at the end of the 30-year FIFA licensing, the closing of some doors might yet open others.
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