The American company Motorsport Games announced that as of December 31, 2024, sales of several of its games will cease. It will remove all its NASCAR-branded projects and DLC from the shelves of digital stores.
NASCAR Heat 5
Among these games are NASCAR 21: Ignition, NASCAR Heat 5, and NASCAR Rivals.
Motorsport Games thanked gamers for their years of support and added that the titles will remain accessible for those who have already purchased them or manage to buy them before sales end. Throughout December, the company will reduce prices across various platforms to allow users to add the games to their collection if they wish.
The developers did not specify why they decided to stop the sales. Most likely, this is connected to the deal with iRacing — at the end of last year, iRacing bought the license to develop NASCAR-branded games for $6 million. Motorsport Games was forced to make this deal due to severe financial challenges.
To the NASCAR game community!
From December 31, 2024, all NASCAR game titles and their DLC content will no longer be available for purchase on all digital storefronts but will remain available to play after this time. This includes the @NASCARHeat, @NASCARRivals, and… pic.twitter.com/7RyCQXuZUo
— Motorsport Games (@MSportgames) November 29, 2024
Motorsport Games' problems began in 2022 when the price of its shares fell below one dollar each. This threatened the company with delisting from the NASDAQ exchange, but they soon managed to raise the price to the required level. In the same year, due to disagreements over finding funding, the entire board of directors of Motorsport Games resigned. Later, the company faced legal disputes due to non-payment of salaries to Russian employees, mass layoffs and restructuring. In April 2024, it informed investors that its funds might soon run out, and the company does not rule out closure.
In its financial report for July-September 2024, Motorsport Games stated that it is now in a more stable financial position. It closed the three-month period with a revenue of $1.8 million, which is a 6.4% increase compared to 2023, and its net loss for the year decreased from $3.5 million to $573,000. Nevertheless, Motorsport Games is not confident that with current expenses, its funds will be sufficient to continue operations throughout the next year. It is currently seeking additional financing.