Will Motorsport Games collapse take down rFactor 2 with it?

[Shovas]

So, it looks like all that talk about MSG being super sketchy was onto something.

Background:
Motorsport Games Attempting to run NFT Scheme

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/motorsport-games-attempting-to-run-nft-scheme.228483/

Austin Ogonoski got Upper Echelon Gamers, who I've respected for quite some time, to dig into MSG, as well, and from what I can see it looks like a trainwreck. And it's not just NFTs. It's lawsuits, misrepresentation, horrific financial reports, in-writing admission they're running on 12 months of money, execs with exorbitant pay raises while not making money, licensors (ie. NASCAR, BTCC, etc.) desperate to get away from MSG, it just goes on.

If they go down what happens to rFactor 2?

 

[Durge Driven]

So, it looks like all that talk about MSG being super sketchy was onto something.

Background:
Motorsport Games Attempting to run NFT Scheme

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/motorsport-games-attempting-to-run-nft-scheme.228483/

Austin Ogonoski got Upper Echelon Gamers, who I've respected for quite some time, to dig into MSG, as well, and from what I can see it looks like a trainwreck. And it's not just NFTs. It's lawsuits, misrepresentation, horrific financial reports, in-writing admission they're running on 12 months of money, execs with exorbitant pay raises while not making money, licensors (ie. NASCAR, BTCC, etc.) desperate to get away from MSG, it just goes on.

If they go down what happens to rFactor 2?

rF2 is decade on and people that do love it have got their moneys worth tenfold
but hey that is just one opinion
This guy paints ( tar and feathers) everyone with the same brush
How about the honest people involved that have kids to feed, don't worry about them

 

[Durge Driven]

Oh my answer is it can't hurt because rF2 users are passionate, lets face it you need to be

I mean for the first 3 years straight we had to put up with "cartoon" such insightfulness

Worst case rF2 can no longer be purchased, passionate modders will keep modding
P.S. I have enough combos as it is for 2 lifetimes

 

[passenger]

I hope all these negative speculations aren't true and that they don't affect rFactor 2 developement.

 

[Shovas]

I hope all these negative speculations aren't true and that they don't affect rFactor 2 developement.

I hope so too but it's starting to look bad

 

[Austin Ogonoski]

This was actually the account I was talking about when I said a large YT channel would cover it. Ermin's a big rF2 fan so naturally this hit close to home for him.

I wasn't actually expecting UEG to cover it. He sent me a single email saying he was going on vacation and that he might take a look when he was back lol.

About to be some very dark days in sim racing ahead.

 

[Shovas]

I noticed that one just an hour ago. Another great video. Glad to see it's getting coverage.

I can only hope they go bankrupt and very quickly get their assets bought out by a reputable sim company.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

If they go down what happens to rFactor 2?

If they go down rF2 will most likely be sold (again). From ISI to S397 to MSGM happened all in the last six years. rF2 will therefore most likely outlive any of these companies as there is more value in the product itself than in anything that MSGM has produced. rF2 by now has around 20 years of development and code base attached to it, so I believe there will be enough interest that someone buys it in case...

 

[davehenrie]

If they go down rF2 will most likely be sold (again). From ISI to S397 to MSGM happened all in the last six years. rF2 will therefore most likely outlive any of these companies as there is more value in the product itself than in anything that MSGM has produced. rF2 by now has around 20 years of development and code base attached to it, so I believe there will be enough interest that someone buys it in case...

There is always the posibility that some entity like iRacing buys rF2 merely to shelve it and remove a competitor.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

rF2 by now has around 20 years of development and code base attached to it, so I believe there will be enough interest that someone buys it in case...

Nearing 25 years if you include dev.time before release of Sports Car GT. Still possible to see things in rF2 that were present in Sports Car GT

 

[Austin Ogonoski]

Nearing 25 years if you include dev.time before release of Sports Car GT. Still possible to see things in rF2 that were present in Sports Car GT

The problem is, who is going to buy it? What existing company is going to randomly purchase a rival game's engine after spending in some cases decades developing and refining their own?

iRacing's engine is phenomenal and something they've worked on since GPL. They won't buy it.

Codemasters are working on Dirt, WRC, Need for Speed (just announced today), and F1. They have their own engine, Ego, which in my opinion is quite good - remember, even though the handling may be dumbed down, what's under the hood, isn't. They won't buy it.

SMS and Reiza are both all-in on the Madness engine. Those engines are quite good as well, they literally just need to spend more time on working out the AI gremlins. So they won't buy it.

Kunos use Unreal as a base and add in their own physics via what's called "shaders". Almost a decade spent developing their own engine, they won't pivot to it.

Sector 3 are perfectly happy doing what they're doing now.

SimBin UK, the guys who were going to make GTR 3, folded.

Sim Raceway died a decade ago.

Milestone does nothing but make motorcycle games, and I don't think Hot Wheels needs to run on isiMotor with full caution flag and car setup functionality.

Kylotonn lost the WRC license to Codemasters so they won't be making racing games anymore.

So who exactly is going to buy rF2?

 

[GTR233]

Well, SimBin/10tacle studios went to bankruptcy more than 10 years ago and both GTR2/RACE are still sold and available today so rF2 will still be there for a long time.

I repeat what I already said, the future of rf2 started to fall the day when his genius creator ISI decided to get rid of his own baby : in general in software/computer industry, the sale of a product leads to his death as only happy few remain (this is also the main story of most start-up for many years).

 

[R00b_Driver]

As an rF2 fan, it is very worrying indeed reading about the MSG CEO, and everything surrounding it.

I can only hope Elon Musk turns into a sim racer and buys S397

But seriously, when MSG took over it had me worried, I mean, who the f**k are MSG I wondered - where have they come from? Then Ignition came out, and, yeah, that went down well.

I just hope rF2 can get more AI fixes done before it all goes tits up.

As for who will buy S397/rF2?
Who knows, I can't see any existing sim developer even being able to afford to buy them out, and, if the CEO is as shady as he appears, then he will want top dollar for it.
The only hope would be a BIG publisher like EA (*urgh*) take it over, or something like that - which, again, is fairly unlikely - given how niche the Sim Racing market is.

 

[azqa]

As long as I haven't done anything one way or another, why worry about things that don't concern us directly ?

In addition, I note that this interests/worries fans of rfactor 2 just as much........... as haters who are looking forward to it and make it known all over the web by different means (videos, forums...).

We will worry when we will really know if there are consequences on rFactor 2, for the moment rFactor does not stop improving.

You know the expression "don't feed the troll" ? It should be the same for the haters.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

The problem is, who is going to buy it? What existing company is going to randomly purchase a rival game's engine after spending in some cases decades developing and refining their own?

iRacing's engine is phenomenal and something they've worked on since GPL. They won't buy it.

Codemasters are working on Dirt, WRC, Need for Speed (just announced today), and F1. They have their own engine, Ego, which in my opinion is quite good - remember, even though the handling may be dumbed down, what's under the hood, isn't. They won't buy it.

SMS and Reiza are both all-in on the Madness engine. Those engines are quite good as well, they literally just need to spend more time on working out the AI gremlins. So they won't buy it.

Kunos use Unreal as a base and add in their own physics via what's called "shaders". Almost a decade spent developing their own engine, they won't pivot to it.

Sector 3 are perfectly happy doing what they're doing now.

SimBin UK, the guys who were going to make GTR 3, folded.

Sim Raceway died a decade ago.

Milestone does nothing but make motorcycle games, and I don't think Hot Wheels needs to run on isiMotor with full caution flag and car setup functionality.

Kylotonn lost the WRC license to Codemasters so they won't be making racing games anymore.

So who exactly is going to buy rF2?

Probably none of the big studios who already have their own engine, I agree, but there is still recurring revenue from sales via Steam and the dozens of DLCs available. At minimum, a random software company could simply buy it to collect the profits from Steam sales without having to spend any major development effort.

If you look at some older games on Steam like Assetto Corsa, they are pretty much goldmines for any business. No development in five years and yet there is no drop in player base, quite the opposite in fact. It's unfortunately what gaming has become. You no longer need to innovate that much and the average person can be fooled to think the game is "new" so long as the graphics look somewhat decent.