EA blocks Forza 4 getting Porsche
"This kills me," says Turn 10 chief.
EA has blocked Turn 10 from including Porsche in upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive racing game Forza 4.
"This kills me," said creative director Dan Greenawalt in an interview on forzamotorsport.net (reported by IGN).
"While Forza Motorsport 4 will feature RUF, it will not include Porsche cars. As many of you know, since the beginning of the Forza franchise, the Porsche license has been available only through a sub-licensing deal with EA.
"In Forza 3, we were able to feature more than 35 different Porsche models by offering to collaborate with EA. For Forza 4, we were looking forward to adding even more Porsche cars, and we were especially looking forward to featuring multiple Porsche experiences in our new Autovista mode. In the end, however, EA couldn't see their way towards collaborating again."
While clearly disappointed, Greenawalt remains hopeful that Porsche may one day return to Forza.
"While we respect EA's need to run their business as they see fit, we've regularly collaborated in the past and hope we can find our way back to that approach," he said.
"Forza had the exclusive license for all Ferrari cars, for example, on the Xbox and PC platforms. But at the end of the day, we've always found that we just weren't willing to block other racing games from having Ferraris outright, as we believed that this would do nothing but hurt the racing ecosystem."
EA is yet to comment on its decision, but it may have something to do with its own Shift series, which it hopes will compete with other simulation racers.
Last year EA executive Patrick Soderlund told Eurogamer he hoped the Shift series would overtake Sony's Gran Turismo series and Microsoft's Forza franchise as gaming's leading simulation racer.
"We think we can compete and ultimately become market leading in the simulation authentic motorsport segment," he said.
"One of the strongest points we have is, apart from the fact we have a very talented developer working with us and we now have an established brand underneath the Need for Speed umbrella in that segment, we also have the advantage of being a multi-platform offering.
"Forza can only be bought on Xbox and Gran Turismo is only available on PlayStation. We're the only one right now that is of a significant weight that can offer something up on all those platforms."
"I'm very sorry for all of this," Greenawalt concluded. "Fans shouldn't have to think about any of this - you should just be able to drive Porsches and Ferraris in the games you love. Porsche makes wonderful cars and I'm sorry that we won't have them in Forza 4."
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Comments (106) Latest comment 7 months ago
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What a load of pop. Won't be getting nfs then, that's my vote counted.
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Other times it's like this, and the only loser is us, The Paying Customer.
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I got over Ferrari cars not being in Shift, I'll get over Porsche not being in Forza.
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EA can dream all they want about competing with forza/GT but it will never happen
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microsoft does the same all the time so this aint nothing, just a tip of the iceberg. payback time from EA
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If you want to drive Porsche cars, go buy Need for Speed Shift 2. If you want to drive Ferrari cars, go and buy Forza 4. It's quite simple.
Of course it would be awesome if both games had both Ferraris and Porsches, no argument about that. However, this is just the crux of having licensing deals in the first place. The car manufacturers are just as much to blame as EA and Turn10 here.
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As long as they fix the woeful Shift 2 mechanics, I'm buying.
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GT5 has Ferrari cars?
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/problem solver for hire/
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Anyway, if Turn 10 holds the Ferrari license, did Polyphony/Sony get permission from them to use Ferraris in GT5?
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"Forza had the exclusive license for all Ferrari cars, for example, on the Xbox "
how would that stop ferrrari being on Playstation
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To be frank though, most people playing these games wouldn't afford a real Ferrari or a real Porsche. I know I sure don't (besides I wouldn't want to own either of those, way too much hassle to own).
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The what?
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...at least according to their previous statements about Gran Turismo 5 not having Porsches
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Annoying that they can't sort out their issues and work together...
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But it's another opportunity for people to complain about the nasty corporations not hugging each other enough.
It's not a case of trying to piss you off. It's business. Get over it.
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It kind of is. EA hope that gamers will be pissed off at not having Porsche in their games, and go for NFS instead.
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EA were already pissing me off with their online codes which meant me and my son couldn't use the same copy of NFS:HP without paying an extra tenner.
They need to sort this shit out ASAP or it could get worse and worse. Before you know it all the various license holders will do the same and all realistic racers will be affected.
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It's more down to Porsche's 'greed'. They're the ones selling exclusive licenses after all.
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new direction for the NFS series? or does he get the bus to work?
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Can somebody let me know which publishers games I'm allowed to buy now?
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Wise up Porsche. EA stope being evil.
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oh how things have changed in the world we live in now. games are big business, gaming licences are big business and they are all fighting over one another to secure the rights for every little thing. How naive everyone was back in the 1990's
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Anyone who buys a Porsche is a grade-A dousche who knows nothing about cars.
They arent bad cars, never said they were bad, but theres better cars for cheaper or mor expense.
End of. ^_^
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But no, I won't buy NfS:Shit only to have Porsches. Those twats can keep that rubbish for themselves.
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Can somebody let me know which publishers games I'm allowed to buy now?
I've got a Colecovision for sale if you want. (Zaxxon is still the best shoot 'em up ever!)
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@skunkfish: Make your own mind up, based on how willing you're prepared to be each company's bitch. If you're completely unwilling, give up gaming. Unfortunate but true.
@coomber: I dunno, Cosmic Avenger on top difficulty is pretty intense.
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I bet that you have a ton of respect for Polyphony though don't you ?
Who pissed in the faces of Gran Turismo fans who grew up playing GT 1,2,3 and 4.
You wouldn't know nothing about that though as your probably only 12 years old and hate everthing about the 360 enough to comment on stories about games you won't even own or are interested in.
GT5 fanboys piss me off, always posting silly comments on any news about Forza 4.
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I loved them in the 90s, hated them in 2000-2008, then loved them again to almost a year ago... and now I hate them.
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It's not that big of a deal, Porsche's suck balls. Fact is (realistically) you'd never buy a porsche, if you had alot of money you'd buy Audi R8, Aston Martin DB9, Ferrari F430...etc // And if you just had enough for a porsche, you'd buy a Nissan GT-R, Vauxhall VXR8, Lotus Evora.
Anyone who buys a Porsche is a grade-A dousche who knows nothing about cars.
They arent bad cars, never said they were bad, but theres better cars for cheaper or mor expense.
End of. ^_^"
Thats gotta be one of the dumbest posts ive ever read on here. I traded my R8 to return to Porsche. If you had any experience whatsoever of driving high end cars you'd understand what a load of drivel you just wrote and why Porsche is THE car marque regardless of price.
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. . . and how do you plan to do that without Ferrari, you short-sighted nimrod?
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I love the GTR, but it doesn't sound half as special as a 911. Faster doesn't necessarily mean better. It's how it feels when driven really.
Anyway... I don't care where it started, EA or T10, I want the new Porsche 911 and the 4.0 GT3!!
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didnt they buy exclusive content for top gear?
cry moar
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oh look at me I missed the point
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Vauxhall VXR8 - class! lmao
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1) They've been trying to negotiate a deal with EA for "18 months", that's since before Shift 2 and Hot Pursuit. If they couldn't agree then, no wonder EA don't have Ferraris. That is as much EA's fault as anyone elses..
2) T10 could only have granted them a license for Xbox and PC. So EA would still have had to obtain the rights for PS3 themselves. They could have done so an pressured MS into giving them Ferrari too, or have their version be a poor relation.
EA have had plenty of time to find a compromise deal, as Dan G sai,m they've been trying to agree something for 18 months! It's ultimately EA's decision, and they've screwed the customers here. Shift 2 is not an option for any kind of sim racing fan, and I doubt their next one will be either.
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I disagree with all the Shift bashing here, it may not be an out and out sim racer, it may not be as shiny as Forza or as boringly sterile as GT5 but tbh, I quite like it, as a racing game. Yes the controls are poorly implemented and require a hell of a lot of tweaking to feel right but as a racing game, it works. I like it's gritty nature, it has effects and great little nuances not available in other games. It's different. I like it.
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This attitude was taken with Forza 3 against EA's simulation attempt Shift. I frankly don't see how it hurt EA's sales but you see the same attitude in the automotive industry. Often, with european manufacturers for some unknown reason.
Frankly, I have to ask. If EA is the only way to get Porsche and Turn 10 was giving Ferrari back in co-operation then why did ONLY Shift have Ferrari's? And why were they only available on the Xbox360?
EA has the license for multi-platform gaming but not for specific platforms if Porsche's license agreements are anything like Ferrari's. And trust me, the Need for Speed community has gone through all the evidence they've been able to glean from the gaming market in a situation where neither EA nor Ferrari have been willing to talk.
It simply seems that Forza is willing to throw some mud in a situation where they know EA isn't going to speak up. Because when it comes to NFS and these sorts of situations. EA never speaks up.
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Porsche obviously want their cars promoted/visible as much as possible. When you compare EAs licensing stance ('hands off!') to T10s (hippy love-in), it would not surprise me if Porsche was less favourable to granting EA the licence again.
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MS/T10 only have the Ferrari rights for Xbox and PC. That means they couldn't give EA the ability to use Ferrari beyond the Xbox and PC versions.
That's why it was DLC for Shift 1, EA would never want to be seen to favour 1 platform so heavily to have Ferrari for free on the disk for Xbox, and were obviously not willing to license Ferrari themselves for the PS3.
Why? Sony do so for GT. System 3 did for their Challenge game. You can' tblame T10 for EA not having Ferrari in Shift 2 or Hot Pursuit on ALL platforms. EA not wanting to pay for Ferrari on their own seems to be the bigger problem, they would need to in order to have platform parity across their games. Seems they would rather be cheap, not have Ferrari, and drag other peoples games down by denying them Porsches. How anyone can see that as MS/T10's fault is beyond me.
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The fact that Ferrari are in Shift only on 360 shows that it was T10 that was willing to let EA use the license and EA werent willing to pay for or unable to negotiate for them on PS3.
These negotiations for F4 were before Shift 2 and it would seem that EA took the decision that seeing as they can't have Ferrari on all systems they'll not bother, which then made it very easy for them to be massive cunts and not let T10 have Porsche.
Or to put it another way, having Ferrari only on one format (which is all T10 could offer them) wasn't worth them giving Porsche to one of the top realism racers for which they want to compete.
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they did it to GT5,Forza 4 - they hyped NFS shift 2 but it sucked , medal of honor sucked too
they have problems with VALVE , Activision and now i won't but B3 too
that's it i'm done with EA.
last gen they did the same shit over destrying westwood and many other studios.
even i don't know i buy ME3 or not
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