Codemasters is currently working on a “most ambitious and biggest” AAA game. While many believed this to be DiRT Rally 3, the latest rumor claims this game was canceled in favor of a new title in the World Rally Championship (WRC) franchise. In fact, changes to the social media channels for DiRT suggest the franchise may have been put on the backburner.
Has DiRT Rally 3 been canceled?
In 2020, Codemasters acquired the rights to develop WRC games from BigBen Interactive. On the day the deal was announced, Codemasters said “we are committed to rally and the DiRT Rally team is already working on their next project ahead of the WRC agreement in 2023.” However, sources familiar with Codemasters’ plans told Exputer that DiRT Rally 3 was scrapped in late 2021.
This is seemingly backed up the renaming of all of the DiRT social media channels at the start of the month; for example, the DiRT franchise’s Facebook and Twitter accounts now redirect to EA Sports Rally. While the move was officially made to celebrate EA game designer John Armstrong’s venture as a Junior WRC driver, it is now intended to be the start of a more permanent change in focus.
Codemasters’ WRC deal runs from 2023 to 2027. When the deal was first agreed, their first WRC game was scheduled to launch before the end of March 2024 and would be based on the 2023 season. Now it is believed the unannounced WRC game will be released in 2023, although development has run into some issues, especially in the QA department. It is not known when the game is likely to be announced officially. As usual, until EA and/or Codemasters make an official statement, take these rumors with a pinch of salt.
In other news, Ghostwire: Tokyo developer Tango Gameworks has started development on a new title that’s the “complete opposite of horror“. Elsewhere, Dying Light 2 will get New Game Plus and a Photo Mode very soon.