Codemasters Formula 1 License is confirmed

Wooohooo ! Finally a new F1 game on the horizon. Codemasters has announced that it has secured a license to create Formula One racing games, after Sony recently opted not to renew its deal. With the new license, Codemasters plans to develop a new F1 game franchise for multiple platforms including PC, with the first title expected in 2009.

"FORMULA 1 is ambitious in expanding its reach with more circuits planned beyond recent additions in the Middle East and China," said Rod Cousens, chief executive officer, Codemasters. "It is also ambitious in expanding its reach via technology. The digital communities that computer and video gaming creates will play a key role in further growing the FORMULA 1 audience and connecting them globally. As a world-leading creator of driving games, this alliance with FORMULA 1 is the jewel in Codemasters' racing crown and creates an undisputed segment champion. FORMULA 1 has gone with the best, the segment leader. It has gone to the home of the EGO Engine for quality; it has gone to the company that can host FORMULA 1 Online, to the company that is streaking away from the pack."

"Codemasters' success and recent innovations in the racing game space makes the company more than appropriately tuned for the challenge," said Chris Deering, chairman, Codemasters. "The combination of FORMULA 1's new momentum of expansion and Codemasters' contemporary technology and past experience is the breaking of a new dawn for the sport, on the track and on the HD game screen."

The FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP games will be developed using the evolution of the award-winning EGO Game Technology Engine, Codemasters' highly versatile cross-platform middleware technology. Its advanced graphics and physics technology brings an unmatched cinematic quality and realism to interactive entertainment.

The first title will be released next year for the PC and consoles. Let's hope they throw some real-time physics effects in it :)