EA Sports activities have made the shock resolution to not launch a brand new F1 recreation in 2026.
Codemasters, which was acquired by EA in 2021, has continued to supply the official F1 recreation, with a brand new title launched yearly since 2009.
In a shock announcement on Tuesday night, EA deserted plans to launch a brand new recreation subsequent yr.
Regardless of an enormous technical regulation overhaul in 2026, gamers will solely get an opportunity to drive the brand new vehicles via a paid DLC replace.
EA will as a substitute focus their full consideration on a brand new recreation in 2027. They are saying F1 27 will probably be a “deeply genuine and modern illustration of the motion and thrill of Formulation 1, reimagined right into a extra expansive expertise with new methods to play for followers world wide”.
EA Sports activities’ senior artistic director Lee Mather stated of the choice: “F1 25 has been an unimaginable success, fueled by the eagerness of followers and the power of the game.
“With Formulation 1’s momentum on and off the monitor, now’s the right time for us to look forward and construct for the longer term. We’re totally dedicated to the EA Sports activities F1 franchise.
“Our multi-year plan extends this yr’s pleasure with the 2026 enlargement and reimagines the F1 expertise for 2027 to ship much more for gamers at each stage world wide.”
The proper transfer long run?
In concept, EA’s resolution to concentrate on F1 27 is the suitable transfer in the long run, offered they ship.
Followers and gamers have been vital of EA/Codemasters for his or her yearly releases, which are sometimes plagued by bugs or uncommon selections that aren’t rectified all through the sport cycle.
F1 24 was poorly obtained as a result of its weird dealing with mannequin and lack of recreation modes.
Whereas F1 25 has rectified a number of the problems with its predecessor, EA haven’t reacted to community-raised issues reminiscent of the shortage of slipstream, which ends up in processional races.
The highest drivers undertake an odd, sharp turn-in method to realize lap time — an unrealistic approach that merely wouldn’t work in actual life.
Within the brief time period, the F1 26 DLC bundle’s success will rely upon how a lot EA decides to vary.
If it’s merely liveries and driver updates, with few changes to duplicate the brand new rules, EA might lose much more of their participant base.
Regardless, the choice has solely elevated the strain on EA to lastly ship a whole F1 title — one thing they’ve arguably did not do since 2020.
