Last year, Sega’s attempt to revive one of its many beloved racing franchises, Sega Rally, wasn’t the commercially successful title it wanted it to be. Last week, the company announced that Sega Racing Studio would be shutting its doors.
Though the reason for the studio’s closure wasn’t specified, many were led to believe that the lackluster sales of its first game influenced Sega’s decision to close down the Birmingham based developer.
Even though Sega has a history of dropping promising development studios (probably more so than any other company in the industry) to avoid financial risk taking, not many of them catch the eye of another publisher with a little more than a few coins in its pocket.
Codemasters (responsible for racing simulators such as Colin McRae’s DiRT and the upcoming GRID) apparently sees potential in the developer, as it has announced that it will now be under its cosiderably large wing.
Though Sega Rally Revo never found its way on the best seller’s list, unique features such as track deformation made it an undeniably stand out title worthy of attention. With Codemaster’s incredibly solid track record of creating motor sports games, it likely hopes that the acquisition of the developer will pay off in a big way by allowing its new designers to lend their talents to craft more compelling, realistic racing experiences.
[Via develop]
