The rumblings under the Motorsport Games umbrella do not seem to stop: While news on the rFactor 2 side have been positive recently with the announcement of exciting content due this month, the end of May is going to be the end of Studio 397’s Managing Director Marcel Offermans at the company.
Offermans is not the first higher-up to decide that it is time to move on: In early April, it became known that Motorsport Games' President Stephen Hood had left the company, just as the planned BTCC game faced a delay that by now looks like a complete cancellation of the project.
What Offermans’ departure means for the future of rFactor 2 remains to be seen. He shared a YouTube video (see above) titled “So long, and thanks for all the fish!”, a reference to a famous book by Douglas Adams with the same name. The video shows his beloved GTE Corvette exiting the final turn of Circuit Zandvoort at night, followed by a statement regarding his departure.
“By the end of May, it is time to move on”, states Offermans while simultaneously expressing his gratitude for his time with Studio 397: “Over time, we grew the user base by an order of magnitude, improved just about every aspect of the simulation and did some really cool projects and collaboration.” Offermans has been with Studio 397 since 2016.
Update: according to this SEC filing the heads of Luminis, the previous owners of Studio 397, received a million dollars to complete the acquisition of the company but with 2.2 million being differered for undisclosed reasons.
Interestingly, his successor is apparently already in place to take over in June: “I am leaving rFactor 2 in very capable hands”, reads the penultimate line of Offermans’ statement – although it is not yet known who is going to take over the reigns or what the future holds regarding the simulation. The next content drop including two BTCC cars plus Donington Park, Brands Hatch and Laguna Seca is expected sometime in May.
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