With The Crew 2 approaching its fifth anniversary, a sequel is long overdue. After months of rumours, The Crew 3 has been rebranded as The Crew Motorfest with a brand new location.
Latest news - The Crew 3 revealed as The Crew Motorfest
The rumours were right!
Ubisoft has unveiled The Crew Motorfest, a new open-world racer replacing The Crew 3. And it looks set to give Forza Horizon a run for its money.
Set in the Hawaiian island of O'ahu, players will tear across beaches, jungles, and city streets in hundreds of legendary cars set around the Motorfest festival.
Not much is known beyond that, but Ubisoft has released a trailer showcasing The Crew Motorfest's exotic location and a plethora of cars. The Crew Motorfest is set for release in 2023 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.
The Crew 3 rumours
The Crew 3 was rumoured to be in development for long time and was codenamed Project Orlando. Back in September 2021, leaked screenshots emerged online showing a new Ubisoft project called Project Orlando set in Hawaii.
These screenshots were discovered in a datamine for The Crew 2. One file referred to a “breathless crew vs crew race, up to 100 players, with vehicles switch along 3 different sections.”
It’s believed Project Orlando was originally going to be DLC for The Crew 2. But according to reliable leaker Tom Henderson, Project Orlando is a "completely new game" with a "new driving engine."
This suggests The Crew 3 is already in development. Henderson also claims the team at Ivory Tower "weren't happy with The Crew 2" and is "overhauling everything” for the sequel.
Location
The first two games in The Crew series were set in a massive open-world recreation of the United States split into five regions.
Each region contains major cities to explore including Chicago, New York City, and Las Vegas to name a few. However, The Crew Motorfest will take the series in a new direction.
Insider Gaming reported that The Crew 3 will be set in Hawaii's island of Oahu. This is a familiar location for open-world driving game fans because the first two Test Drive Unlimited games were also set in Hawaii.
This has since been confirmed in The Crew Motorfest reveal trailer showcasing the beaches, jungles, and city streets of Hawaii.
One of Ivory Tower’s founders, Stephane Beley, also directed Test Drive Unlimited. It seems, then, that Ivory Tower wants to recapture the spirit of the original TDU games.
This suggests The Crew 3’s location will be smaller in scale but hopefully more detailed. Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is taking a similar direction with its recreation of Hong Kong Island.
New Motorfest name
Previous rumours suggested The Crew 3 will be The Crew Motorfest. These turned out to be true.
Before the reveal, industry insider Tom Henderson had seen leaked screenshots not released publicly showing a prominent Motorfest logo on electronic billboards, car number plates, and in the loading menu.
Notably, The Crew logo wasn't on any of the screenshots, implying that Ivory Tower and Ubisoft could drop The Crew branding for the next game and reboot the franchise. This could be risky since The Crew is an established IP.
Release date
The Crew Motorfest is slated for a 2023 release, but there's no confirmed date yet.
Since The Crew Motorfest was revealed in late January, we expect Ubisoft to build up hype over the next few months with new trailers and reveals. As a result, we expect The Crew Motorfest to be released sometime in the second half of 2023.
In terms of platforms, The Crew Motorfest will be released on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.
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