Will the Electronic Arts Porsche Contract Expire in 2016?

Ever since video game publisher Electronic Arts released Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (15 years ago), racing game and simulator Development Studios have not been able to licence and include the popular Porsche brand in their product. Basically, we have not been able to drive Porsches due to a weird exclusivity contract Porsche has with Electronic Arts. All that while in the last few years, Electronic Arts did not really do a lot with the license, apart from using it for their Real Racing mobile title.

Basically, we have not been able to drive Porsches due to a weird exclusivity contract Porsche has with Electronic Arts. To make things worse, during the last few years Electronic Arts did not really do a lot with the license, apart from using it for their Real Racing mobile game.

Up and till the release of the Forza 4 title on Xbox, Turn10 Studios was the only developer having access to a selection of the famous german vehicles by means of a sub-licensing deal between Microsoft and Electronic Arts. To overcome this hijack problem, many independent developers do now substitute the Porsches with the famous German RUF brand that produces cosmetically similar cars while being recognized as a different manufacturer. This has resulted in a situation where more Ruf’s appear in racing games these days than Porsches.

Now the interesting part… recently, Tech website, Ars Technica published a news article talking about the Forza 6 announcement at E3 2015. In the article, the author states that the Electronic Arts Porsche agreement might end during 2016.

Touring cars also make an appearance, and Porsche will be back, too, although not until 2016—Electronic Arts still has an exclusive license for the German sports car maker until then.

While this is not an official announcement, it does make us raise our eyebrows. We are sure the entire sim racing community is hoping that one day, the Electronic Arts hijack charade will stop and enable us to enjoy racing the virtual Porsche’s on our favorite Sim Racing platforms once more.