The studio behind Project Cars and its even more popular sequel Project Cars 2, Slightly Mad, recently announced that both titles will soon be pulled from sale. The racing games will be removed from digital storefronts like Steam on October 3 and September 21, respectively. The reason appears to be a licensing issue.“A message from the Slightly Mad team,” the developer posted on Twitter. “Due to expiring car and track licenses, both Project Cars and Project Cars 2 will be delisted from sale in the coming months. The games remain fully playable and our players will still be able to enjoy all the game features including multiplayer. We will remove Project Cars from sale on October 3 and Project Cars 2 on September 21.”According to the developer, “we remain focused on making the best simulation racing titles and as mentioned previously, we look forward to sharing more on the next Slightly Mad project when the time is right.”Project Cars was released on May 6, 2015. The game was well received by critics and players alike, managing to sell over 2 million lifetime copies. The sequel to this popular title, Project Cars 2, came out on September 22, 2017 to a very similar reception. Project Cars 2 was a lot more ambitious, featuring 140 layouts at 60 different tracks along with 189 vehicles ranging from karts to supercars. The most recent entry in the series, Project Cars 3, was however critically panned.
Slightly Mad Studios was founded on January 12, 2009. The company was acquired by a well known developer of driving simulators, Codemasters, back in November, 2019 before both developers were acquired by EA last year. The nature of its upcoming project remains to be seen.