Okay, so here’s the thing with Codemasters. They’ve just hit the brakes on those World Rally Championship games. Weird, right? I mean, one second we’re hearing about the Hard Chargers content pack for EA Sports WRC, and then BAM, everything’s on hold. They’ve been tinkering with VR rally stuff for ages—EA Sports WRC, DiRT Rally, DiRT Rally 2.0—like, VR’s their playground or something. But now? Rally fans better start hunting for new VR thrills ’cause the playground’s getting kinda empty.
And then, they drop this bombshell of a statement, all dramatic and emotional: “Every great journey eventually finds its finish line…” Yeah, poetic, but also kinda sad. They’re pretty much saying, “Hey, we’re done for now. But don’t worry, EA Sports WRC’s still gonna be out there, waiting for you to get your rally fix.” They poured their souls into it, apparently. Personally, I can’t decide if that’s comforting or just a goodbye hug before they disappear.
I geek out on rally history sometimes, and Codemasters has been at this since way back—like Paris to Dakar Rally on the ZX Spectrum, early 90s stuff. Heck, in 1998, there was Colin McRae Rally, and it pretty much blew up in Europe. Sold millions! Driving games were their jam for decades. And VR? Oh man, they jumped on that early. Pretty sure their DiRT Rally VR in 2016 raised the bar for VR racing. The follow-up wasn’t shabby either.
Now, here’s where it gets really murky. Rumor mill’s saying EA chopped something like 300-400 jobs recently. Does this mess with Codemasters? Who knows, but if it does, I’m curious what’s next.
As for VR rallying’s future, feels pretty clouded right now. Codemasters might still tweak their VR stuff, but who can predict if they’ll stick with it? F1 25 is still doing the PC VR thing, so there’s that. Anyway, keep your eyes peeled on the horizon. Who knows when a new contender will speed into view?
