British game developer firm Codemasters has secured a five-year contract to create the FIA World Rally Championship game titles from 2023.
Codemasters is known for their Formula 1, Colin McRae Rally and DiRT series, also running own Esports tournaments within the franchise.
A spokesman from Codemasters told to Videogameschronicle.com that they have secured a five-year contract starting at 2023 and ends at 2027 to create the upcoming WRC games for different platforms and mobiles, featuring all classes from the championship.
Codemasters has previously owned the rights to the game with the last game to feature an all-WRC ‘format’ being Colin McRae Rally 3 back in the 2002. Some WRC cars have appeared in the other games but nothing has been official except loaning a license for them.
“We are committed to rally and the DiRT Rally team is already working on their next project ahead of the WRC agreement in 2023.” Codemasters told to VGN.
“We’ve discussed bringing our passion and world-class rally game experience to represent the world’s premier rally championship on many occasions. We believe we can grow the franchise in the same way we have for Formula 1.”
“We are excited about finally bringing WRC to our portfolio of racing games, something which our passionate community of players has been requesting for a long time.”
The WRC games are currently being developed by BigBen Interactive and before that by Milestone. The first new game from Codemasters is expected to arrive in early 2024.