Earlier this month, American media giant Liberty Media completed a takeover of MotoGP earlier this month for a whopping £3.6 billion. This is the biggest financial shake-up in MotoGP's history and will have far-reaching consequences.
This acquisition could potentially affect the official MotoGP game series, which is currently developed by Milestone. With Milestone's contract ending in the near-future, the door is open for a new publisher to take over the MotoGP game series.
Liberty Media's MotoGP Purchase
Liberty Media has been expanding its motorsports portfolio in recent years. Its biggest deal was Formula 1, which Liberty Media acquired in 2017.
F1 has enjoyed a boom in popularity during this time, especially in the US, thanks to Netflix's Drive to Survive.
With that in mind, it's not surprising that Liberty Media has branched out into other motorsports, having acquired the World Superbike Championship and MotoGP.
Although the MotoGP purchase hasn't been officially completed yet, it's now a formality and is expected to be finished before the end of 2024.
While changes won't be felt this year, MotoGP's profile will likely grow significantly when the 2025 season starts, particularly online.
EA's Expanding Motorsport Game Empire
EA isone of the biggest video game companies around. Love them or loathe them, they publish some of the most recognizable game series in the business.
EA dominates the officially licensed sports game scene, with EA Sports developing EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA), Madden NFL, UFC, NHL, and PGA Tour (golf), among others.
Despite this, EA Sports hasn't had many motorsports games under their belt. That all changed in 2021, when EA completed their purchase of Codemasters and by extension, the Formula 1 game series.
Since then, Codemasters has also taken on development duties for the official WRC game. So, could MotoGP follow suit?
What MotoGP Under EA Could Look Like
Milestone has helmed the MotoGP series since 2013, with the latest entry, MotoGP 24, due to arrive next month. The Italian developers recently extended its partnership with MotoGP until at least 2026. This means we won't see any changes until at least MotoGP 27.
Milestone also develops other bike racers, such as Ride, SBK and Monster Energy Supercross, as well as the arcade car racing series Hot Wheels Unleashed.
Although Milestone has experience creating high-quality motorbike racing games, EA could theoretically buy the rights to the MotoGP game from 2027 onwards.
Considering they made a net revenue of around $7.4 billion in the 2023 fiscal year, EA could blow Milestone out of the water if they wanted to.
Liberty Media and EA already have a working relationship with the Formula 1 games, so handing the license to EA Sports would be a smooth transition.
What MotoGP under EA would look like
It's fair to say that the focus of the Formula 1 game has shifted since EA took over Codemasters. Before F1 2021, Codemasters primarily focused on improving the single-player experience, particularly My Team.
Since then, the focus has shifted to online multiplayer, with the expansion of the Podium Pass and the introduction of F1 World.
MotoGP would likely go down a similar path if EA took over the official video game license.
MotoGP 27 could have online game modes such as "MotoGP World" and a MotoGP version of Braking Point every other year. We could even see something similar to MotoGP 22's Nine mode return, something that's getting increasingly unlikely in Milestone's series.
MotoGP's marketing budget would be much larger than Milestone's with EA, so the game series would be pushed into the mainstream gaming scene. We could also see more collaborations with real-life riders.
However, EA's taking over the beloved bike series would likely alienate old-school MotoGP game fans, who prefer a single-player experience that focuses on realism and racing rather than glitz and glamour.
Alternatively, Nacon could potentially acquire the MotoGP game license. The French publisher recently took over the MXGP game series from Milestone, and its first MXGP game developed by KT Racing is due to arrive later this year.
While the publisher no longer has the rights to the WRC games, Nacon is expanding its motorsport games portfolio, having recently announced a new Endurance Motorsport Series game.
Whoever takes over the license, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for the MotoGP game series.
How do you feel about the prospect of EA publishing the MotoGP games? Let us know in the comments below!
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