Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Porsche frees from EA exclusivity so other games can feature it

2017 Porsche 718 Cayman

In the world of racing video games, Porsche became synonymous with Electronic Arts (EA) and their driving capabilities are mostly (but not all) limited to street racing in the case of the Need For Speed franchise and Porsche fans had to play every Need For Speed title to drive Porsche's finest sportscars. However, everything's changed when a Porsche official revealed that the Porsche-EA exclusivity has come to a complete end.

Porsche Branded Entertainment Manager Sebastian Hornung told during a special event in collaboration with Kunos Simulazioni, developers of the critically-acclaimed Assetto Corsa simulation racing game, told that with the current situation "not desirable" anymore, Porsche's license with EA runs out this year. 

Outside EA and before Porsche got featured on Assetto Corsa, the Forza franchise jumped into the Porsche bandwagon with earlier installments and later ones via paid DLC. Then, this year, Assetto Corsa made a special partnership with Porsche to feature three separate DLC packs with the final one set to arrive on PC next week (featuring notable motorsport icons like the 908 Long Tail and the legendary 917K for the first time in racing video game history since NFS Porsche Unleashed).

Assetto Corsa aside, Sebastian Gerhart from the German motoring website, SpeedManiac, said that relationship with other game developers will change. In translation, other games may soon feature Porsche anytime "after 10 years of absence from pure simulations."

So, with Porsche freed from EA exclusivity for now, just imagine how many games outside of EA will feature Stuttgart's finest aside from Forza and Assetto Corsa over the next few years?

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