 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | Blimey! Games |
| Founded | January 2009; 17 years ago (2009-01)[1] |
| Founder | Ian Bell |
| Headquarters | London, England |
| Products |
|
| Parent | Codemasters (2019–present) |
Slightly Mad Studios Ltd. was a Britishvideo game developer based inLondon. Founded in 2009, it was best known for theProject CARS series ofracing games that it developed from 2015 until the series' discontinuation in 2022.Codemasters acquired Slightly Mad Studios in 2019 and was itself acquired byElectronic Arts in 2021.
On 12 January 2009, Ian Bell acquired the business and assets ofBlimey! Games from bankrupt parent 10tacle Studios.[2] In September 2009, Slightly Mad Studios releasedNeed for Speed: Shift withElectronic Arts.[3] Its sequelShift 2: Unleashed was announced in November 2010 and released in March 2011.[4][5][6]
The company uses a distributed development structure, with developers living across the world and working remotely.[7] Slightly Mad was ranked as the 17th most successful developer in the Develop 100 list for 2010.[8]
In 2012, the company releasedTest Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends, which focuses onFerrari's history across Formula One, rallying and sports cars.[9]
In 2015, Slightly Mad launchedProject CARS, a community-developed racing simulator.[10] In 2017, Slightly Mad Studios released the sequelProject CARS 2.[11] This title was developed using community-based development, pre-alpha testing, and funding, in an attempt to bypass normal publishing costs. This was the first title of a series of similarly-developed games.[citation needed]Project CARS was featured inprofessional videogaming competitions by theESL from 2015 to 2018.[12][13]
On 2 January 2019, CEO and founder of Slightly Mad Studios, Ian Bell, announced viaTwitter that the company would be creating its ownvideo game console, which would have been called Mad Box. Bell claimed that the console would be "the most powerful console ever built", saying that it would be capable of running games at4K resolution, at up to 120FPS, and will support most majorvirtual reality headsets at 60 FPS per eye. It's considered that the console should be equivalent to a "very fast PC 2 years from now". The company estimated that the console would be released in 2022. In addition to their console, Bell announced that the company would give developers free access to its proprietarygame engine to develop games for their console. The company does not currently intend to have exclusive titles for their console.[14][15][16][17]
On 25 May 2019, it was announced that upcoming racing titleAutomobilista 2 developed by Reiza Studios will be using the Madness engine developed by Slightly Mad Studios and used forProject CARS 2, then the game has released a year later, at the end of June.[18] Slightly Mad Studios was acquired byCodemasters in November 2019 for aboutUS$30 million. This includes the rights to theProject CARS series and a yet-unannounced game.[19] On 28 August 2020 Slightly Mad Studios releasedProject CARS 3,[20] three weeks after the publisher launchedFast & Furious Crossroads.
In February 2021, Codemasters was, in turn, acquired by Electronic Arts.[21] Slightly Mad Studios developed afree-to-play mobileProject CARS game,Project CARS Go, which was released by Gamevil in March 2021. The game was withdrawn from sale in October that year, followed by the shutdown of its services in November.[22] Also in October, Bell left the studio.[23] Under Electronic Arts,Project CARS andProject CARS 2 were removed from sale in 2022 as licenses for tracks and cars expired. On 8 November 2022, the publisher announced that it would discontinue theProject CARS series and move affected Slightly Mad Studios staff to other projects.[24] Bell offered to hire affected employees under his new company, Straight4.[23][25]
| Year | Game | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Need for Speed: Shift | Electronic Arts |
| 2011 | Shift 2: Unleashed | Electronic Arts |
| 2012 | Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends | Rombax Games |
| 2015 | Project CARS[10] | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 2016 | Red Bull Air Race: The Game | Wing Racers Sports Games |
| 2017 | World of Speed | Mad Dog Games LLC |
| 2017 | Project CARS 2[26] | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 2020 | Fast & Furious Crossroads[27] | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 2020 | Project CARS 3[28] | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 2021 | Project CARS Go | Gamevil |
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