
During the Wii U generation, London-based developer Slightly Mad Studios was working on a game called Project CARS. It was meant to be the definitive racing sim for Nintendo's system at the time but got cancelled in 2015. The final release (on other platforms) was well-received and a sequel followed in 2017.
Fast forward to earlier this week, and Slightly Mad has now been acquired by the British developer and publisher Codemasters for $30 million (£23.3 million). According to GameIndustry.biz, the studio currently has three projects in development: a mobile version of Project Cars, a "Hollywood blockbuster movie" game, and one based on its own intellectual property.
As noted in the official announcement, both companies share a rich history of creating "AAA racing games" so this is seemingly the perfect match and is expected to reinforce Codemasters as a global powerhouse in the development of racing titles.
Codemasters – with the help of Feral Interactive – recently released GRID Autosport on the Switch with additional features and enhancements. Perhaps the chances of seeing a Slightly Mad game on a Nintendo system are now better than before.
[source codemasters.com]
Comments 28
Well here is hoping Codemasters wil release Rally games via Slightly Mad studios
Would be nice if that mobile version was a Switch version. Racing and mobile touch controls is a match made in hell
Here’s hoping F12020 sees a switch release. I’d even snapped up a port of F12019
Codemasters were one of my favourites back in the day simply because of Micro Machines 2 on the Mega Drive. I spent so many enjoyable hours on that game and it was the first 4 player game I played with my friends.
Their best game in recent times (imho) was On Rush, but I’m not sure how well it sold. I only tried it because of PS+. That would have suited the Switch audience and filled a massive void in racing games on Switch at the time, but alas.
I’m pretty sure they could make graphically toned down versions if their Dirt and F1 games also on Switch. Someone needs to fill this gap and they could be the ones to do it.
So does this mean the Mad Box is no more?
Project Cars 2 was a brilliant racing sim, not sure codemasters taking them over is good news for any possible future ones...
Would like to see CM make an F1 game for the Switch
Hmm well both are talented groups who can make a great racing game, this could give their capabilities a real boost.
@Kienda OnRush were made by the same dev who made Motorstorm 1-3 and DriveClub on Sony consoles.
OnRush flopped, so Codemasters fire the whole dev.
I'm not sure what On Rush is. Weirdest racing game ever.
@Swizze they now may make the game playable with a control pad.
Yeah, really curious what happens to the Mad Box after this one...
@SigourneyBeaver Yeah I don't think anyone could really figure that game out either. I don't think it was even a racing game, like it was a racing game where you don't even race or something. Whatever the deal was I know it didn't sell well.
Not being a car enthusiast, I never fully shared Slightly Mad's vision, but those guys stuck to it, and now they're rich!
@Kienda Onrush was a good, fairly unique game but was poorly promoted and was a somewhat odd gameplay proposition... it looked like a cross country racer but didn't play like one i.e. getting to the front of the pack was actually the worst place to be in some game modes... it was more sort of a team vehicular combat / capture the flag / competitive dodgems game. Once you got over that strange dissonance, I found it to be really fun.
It did pretty badly sales wise and turned up very early in sales and on the xbox game pass (i.e. a couple of months after launch) when every other game on there was either an MS exclusive, a small indie game or simply very old.
Slightly Mad Studios is trash and refuse to get ever buy a game from them
@Kienda Micro Machines was such a favourite on megadrive, loved the additional controller ports on the cartridge!
Slightly Mad Studios has potential, after seeing their work in NFS Shift and Test Drive Ferrari, I know they can make good racing games, however, I still have some disappointment after they abandoned the port of Project CARS for the Wii U, although, at one point they were right; Now, ironically, they will make a port game for mobiles, which will end up "eating their words" by mentioning the reasons for not making the port for Wii U.
@kobashi100 Have you even played PC2? It was more then playable.
@SakuraHaruka I don't think I could still blame them for cancelling the Wii U port of that game, I know it sucks for the people who backed it wanting that version of the game but in all reasonableness I have to agree with why they did that. A lot of developers wound up cancelling games on the Wii U for similar reasons, they made announcements thinking the console would be a lot more successful than it was. When the writing was on the wall and sales were looking bleak it is no wonder they didn't consider it worthwhile anymore.
In all honesty if you have any interest in sim racers you really should have moved on to a different platform. I just think it's a shame they didn't move on to releasing Project CARS 2 on the Switch.
Wish Codemasters would bring Overlord remasters to the Switch.
@JayJ
At that point, that he could not succeed in sales on the Wii U is understandable, it is obvious that many gave up on developing on the Wii U when seeing the performance of their sales; However, another point that "argued" why they discarded the Wii U version was the power, which is also understood, however, as I mentioned, the irony is that now that they are with Codemaster, one of the games that are planned for 'SMS' will be for mobiles, that is, for devices that, some, would hardly surpass the power of the Wii U, that's why I mentioned that it is ironic, XD.
But I am not upset, in the end, things like this happen, but it is a sad thing when they promise you something and do not fully comply, minimum with a simple port, but that was not possible, hehe, but well, that is in the past and all ok.
And do not worry, I play on many systems, even on mobiles and talking about Sim Racings, Real Racing 3 is very good, it pity that it is from EA and it is Free to play.
ah yes mad studios that promised they would be bring project cars to the wii u and they lied about it saying it didnt look to good even though the wii u version didnt even existed.
@KitsuneNight I'm a bit confused - the Dirt Rally series is pretty much the highest regarded rally sim games out there, and the Dirt series in general has a pretty good reputation. What would releasing those games under the Slightly Mad banner accomplish?
A likely possibility the mobile version of carrs will get ported to the switch then.
@RiasGremory seeing as it barely runs on the PS4 i fully believe them.
@YANDMAN dude they never even made the wii u version to compare it to the ps4 version so yeah they made a very bad excuse.
@RiasGremory And you know this how?
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