Electronic Arts Exclusive Porsche Agreement Ends

Back in June 2015, we reported that Tech website, Ars Technica published a news article talking about the Forza 6 announcement at E3 2015. In the article, the author stated that the Electronic Arts Porsche agreement might end during 2016. Now it seems their crystal ball was right.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts released Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed almost 16 years ago. This was the start of an exclusive licensing deal between Porsche AG  and EA.  Sadly enough, Electronic Arts did not really do a lot with the obtained exclusive license, apart from sub-licensing some content to Turn10 Studios and their own in-house Real Racing mobile game. To overcome this hijack problem, many independent racing game developers had to substitute their Porsches with the famous German RUF brand that produces cosmetically similar cars while being recognized as a different manufacturer.

When not so long ago, Kunos Simulazioni partnered up with Porsche and announced the Assetto Corsa Porsche pack DLC’s, it became clear that something was going on.

Today the Speedmaniacs.com website reported that during an interview with Kunos Simulazioni’s licensing manager Marco Massarutto and Sebastian Hornung who is the Manager Branded Entertainment at Porsche AG, it was confirmed that Porsche will terminate its exclusive agreement with Electronic Arts before the end of the year.

Sebastian Hornung stated that in the past, Porsche has been following up on the happenings in the gaming scene and that it now became clear that the exclusive agreement was less than ideal for both Porsche and EA. From 2017 on, Porsche will end its exclusive license deal and revise its licensing policy towards other game and simulation developers. During the interview, Sebastian Hornung also admitted he was surprised by the success of the Porsche-based RUF models within the gaming scene.

Since both Turn10 Studios (Forza Horizon 3) and Slightly Mad Studios ( Project CARS) have already teased official future Porsche content for their respective titles, it becomes clear that Porsche’s attitude towards licensing has already changed.

For a while, we were under the impression that Porsche would simply substitute one exclusive license for another. Now that it is confirmed that this is not the case, prepare to finally see more Porsche branded content in your favorite racing simulation.