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Codemasters has secured the official WRC (World Rally Championship) license as part of a new deal that runs through until 2027. This restores the license to Codemasters, who last made an official WRC licensed game in 2002.
As reported by GamesIndustry, Codemasters has signed the exclusive five-year deal that not only allows the company to develop and publish official WRC games, but also run associated esports tournaments.
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The developer’s last game shipped as an official WRC product was 2002’s Colin McRae Rally 3. The license was then passed to Evolution Studios, who began the WRC series in 2001. The official license was picked up by developer Milestone in 2010, and then Kylotonn in 2015. Kyloton and publisher BigBen Interactive will maintain the license until 2023, when it will pass over to Codemasters.
With the WRC series, Codemasters will have two rally franchises in-house, as the developer currently has the Dirt series, itself the evolution of the once WRC-official Colin McRae Rally games. Codemasters plans to continue Dirt, and already has another entry planned ahead of the start of their tenure on WRC in 2023. This will also mark the company’s second major license; Codemasters currently develops the official F1 racing video games.
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The WRC games from Codemasters will be released annually for console, PC, and mobile platforms, with the first game arriving in the 2023/2024 financial year.
For more from Codemasters, check out the upcoming F1 2020, and the latest details on Dirt 5, which features voice actor legends Troy Baker and Nolan North.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.