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NASCAR, the very popular circle-based sport, is coming back to video games. Developer DMi Games has acquired "certain NASCAR-related assets" from previous series dev Eutechnyx, and will partner with NASCAR Team Properties to acquire "certain exclusive licensing rights as part of a multi-year agreement.
DMi says it is "hard at work on several new games," including a new NASCAR racing sim for PC, PS4 and Xbox One set to launch in 2016.
"As of January 1, 2015, DMi became NASCAR's exclusive licensee for video games and digital entertainment," DMi president Ed Martin wrote in an open-letter to NASCAR fans. "It is a deal that had been in the works for several months. But it was something that could not be disclosed until everything was finalized. And by 'everything', I mean a very long and complex set of negotiations and agreements. Just to give you some context, a contemporary NASCAR video game has over 1,000 licensed and approved properties in it. That's a lot of stakeholders and people to get organized."
In the open-letter, Martin explained that the acquisition from Eutechnyx provides DMi with "core art assets such as tracks and cars," providing the developer with a "starting place" to create future titles. Included in the deal is the NASCAR Manager franchise, which Martin promises will see a re-release "soon."
Prior to the agreement with DMi, Eutechnyx had been working on an online-only update to its NASCAR franchise, which will be released this spring under its own label. Eutechnyx's final NASCAR title, NASCAR '15, will be made available on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
Martin was as good a person as any to announce the partnership to NASCAR fans, as his resume is littered with work on the license. Martin began his career in the early 1990s at Paprus, which first held the license, before moving on to EA and Eutechnyx where he worked on the franchise.
