Codemasters snags Formula 1 licence

By Robert Purchese Published 9 May, 2008

First title expected in 2009.

Codemasters has picked up the rights to the Formula 1 licence that Sony used to command.

Its internal Race Driver: GRID team will set to work on creating games based on the IP for multiple platforms, with the first titles expected next year.

Central to the master plan is harnessing the online community in something called Formula 1 Online, as well as putting all the real-life drivers, courses, teams and cars in.

"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," said Codemasters trouser-wearer Rod Cousens.

"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."

Both Sony Europe and Codemasters were unable to shed any more light on the deal.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (64) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BadBoyBonner #1 4 years ago

    Excellent news - as far as the rendering goes (Grid looks very nice and gives a good sensation of speed) - hope the driving technique of F1 is handled well.

  • Darren #2 4 years ago

    I'm actually excited about this... it'll be great to see what a new development team can come up with after years of Sony-made games. That it will use the NEON engine which DiRT and GRID use is even better.

  • FlamingCarrot #3 4 years ago

    Fantastic news! It will never hit the GP4 / Geoff Crammond heights IMHO but great news for F1 fans.

  • dieseljunkie #4 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:42:38 15-12-2011

  • Beano #5 4 years ago

    Great news :)

    Hopefully they will make it 60fps and a more sim orientended racer than DIRT and GRID. I don't want a arcade Formula 1 racing game.

    At least the franchise is in the hands of talented developers and not back to EA Sports :)
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 10:21

  • FlamingCarrot #6 4 years ago

    Polyphony would make it too clinical. GT5 is technically excellent but is totally without a soul. Now Grand Prix Legends had the works...

  • Cloudane #7 4 years ago

    After a decent first attempt on the PlayStation 3 with F1 Championship, I had kind of hoped that another one would be in the pipeline but this is good news for multi-format owners.

  • aldo_14 #8 4 years ago

    "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. It has gone to the company that offered to meet the price of Max Mosleys 5 stripper weekend."

  • kiroquai #9 4 years ago

    I'm almost enthused... problem is, I've just tried the Race: Grid demo and the handling on that is still the same classic Codies balance of being too twitchy on turn-in and too floaty for the rest of the corner. The most important thing about an F1 game is decent handling so I hope they get it right!
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 10:26

  • bad09 #10 4 years ago

    Nice I like F1 racers, and I have to say Grid is pretty good Codemasters. Your F1 game will never beat Nigel Mansell's Grand Prix though.......

    http://uk.y outube.com/watch?v=cITHSHT_YRw

  • MKorkia #11 4 years ago

    This truly is great news!

    Codemasters have made very good racing games in the past, so maybe new F1 game(s) will be more approachable than F1 Championship Edition was.

  • Darren #12 4 years ago

    In all the excitement I'd forgotten that the 360 will also get this game as well as PS3 owners and that has to be the best news of all really. :D

  • Der_tolle_Emil #13 4 years ago

    Well finally! I have become a big F1 fan watching pretty much every race nowadays but there aren't any good F1 games (on the 360). Might be the next best thing after Forza 2 for my wheel.

  • Steroyd #14 4 years ago

    As long as EA don't touch it with a ten foot barge pole. :)

  • JonFE #15 4 years ago

    That's great news for x360 F1 fans, because an independent developer is the only way we'll get to experience a licensed F1 game - assuming Codies release an x360 version as well; while Sony held the license we were basically screwed :)

  • mossychops001 #16 4 years ago

    Vroom by Lankhor, the best F1 game ever!

  • FlamingCarrot #17 4 years ago

    There haven't been any good F1 games for years. At least Codemasters have made some excellent racing games. I still think TOCA2 was a benchmark when it came to racing sims.

  • viper_h #18 4 years ago

    yay for 360!

  • Dizzy #19 4 years ago

    Good news... Codies have a good basis for this.

  • FlamingCarrot #20 4 years ago

    Ayrtons Senna's Super Monaco GP?

    Vroom was so fast in its day..

  • mossychops001 #21 4 years ago

    Its good news it going multiplatform, but lets not forget the good work the SCEE Liverpool Studios has done...

    It’s also Sad that Bernie Ecclestone is such a short arsed money grabbing Twat.

  • FlamingCarrot #22 4 years ago

    Talking of Mosley this is good

    http://ww w.sniffpetrol.com/2008/04/04/mo...

  • alimokrane #23 4 years ago

    Wow Codemasters is really going at it in terms of racing games. they acquired the Sega Rally studio, now the formula one license .... I bet MS or Sony will be going after the compnay pretty soon!

  • bad09 #24 4 years ago

    "but lets not forget the good work the SCEE Liverpool Studios has done..."

    +1. not long had PS3 but the F1 demo was one I was impressed with still need to get the game though, but with PGR4, GTp, Grid, Ferrari Challenge.....so many racers!!!!!

  • MrMarbles #25 4 years ago

    I look forward to the American commentary.

  • Valver #26 4 years ago

    For gods sake PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't make the F1 cars pivot from the middle, like pretty much every other damn driving game you've released has :(
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 10:55

  • oreillymj #27 4 years ago

    Hopefully we'll have a game with SPA Francorchamps. The best track in F1 has been missing for some time. I'm going to the race there this year ;-)

    Playing GRID last night makes me optimistic about this title.

    Sony did a good job, but it was getting stale.


    Looks like Bernie is in the process of playing musical chairs with all his licensees and watching the money roll in.

  • mossychops001 #28 4 years ago

    Glad EA did not get it. But didn't they do a deal with Lewis Hamition to do a F1 game anyway?

  • oreillymj #29 4 years ago

    Vroom by Lankhor, the best F1 game ever! ++

    BTW - The codies do a great job on RWD cars. The Mustang with no TC is twitchy bastard at times.

  • monkie_king #30 4 years ago

    I was just playing Vroom a few weeks ago. It's still fast, but not so pretty. I'd forgotten that great thing where you rear-end someone at speed and go flying up and over them.

  • Beano #31 4 years ago

    "but lets not forget the good work the SCEE Liverpool Studios has done..."

    I agree. The PS3 game was exellent. May not have next-gen flashy graphics, but it's was smooth, solid 60fps and great gameplay. Had hoped Liverpool Studios would follow it up with a more fleshed out version, but at least Codemasters got the license and not EA :)


    "I look forward to the American commentary."

    Nooo... don't even joke about that :(
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 11:17

  • Eighthours #32 4 years ago

    Great news, imo.

  • Beano #33 4 years ago

    I wonder what the title will be... Formula One: POLE? ;)

  • steoc4 #34 4 years ago

    Studio Liverpool's last F1 game was far better than anything Codemasters have produced on current consoles so I'd have preferred to see them to continue building on that.

    That said, a fresh approach might rejuvinate things and given that F1 isn't popular in the US they may not make it awful and dumbed down and they may go back to their TOCA roots.

  • HyperShadow #35 4 years ago

    Awesome news.

    I thought Codies had sorted the centre pivoting with Colin Macrae 04? Not that it matters though, centre pivoting forced me to in-car or roll bar cameras where it doesn't matter and the experience is just as awesome.

  • mcmonkeyplc #36 4 years ago

    Sega LOL

  • themorganator #37 4 years ago

    @Valver

    "For gods sake PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't make the F1 cars pivot from the middle, like pretty much every other damn driving game you've released has :("

    I couldn't agree more.

  • Dop #38 4 years ago

    Dear Codemasters.
    Hire Geoff Crammond.

    His F1 games on the PC were easily the best F1 games I ever played.
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 12:18

  • secret_player #39 4 years ago

    the centre pivoting thing is just a myth, it only looks like it due to the way the chase cam works

  • kungphu #40 4 years ago

    I think F1:CE was easily the best F1 game studio Liverpool made, it was a shame that they wont be able to make more.

    I hope codies don't make the F1 game arcady like they have done with GRID,

  • secombe #41 4 years ago

    Maybe they will do as well with this as they have with their BTCC licence...

    ...oh, hang on.

    It would have been more fun if Simbin had got the licence, you could get achievement points if you actually ever managed to complete a single lap :)
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 12:24

  • McLovin85 #42 4 years ago

    Studio Liverpool created an awesome F1 last year and i was hoping that they would create the next one.

    I just played the GRID demo on PSN and it sucks ass, it doesn't feel realistic in anyway at all. if it is trying to be arcarde like then it is also failing that too, it's just plain awful.

  • ligurmatic #43 4 years ago

    The Americans don't give two hoots about F1, so hopefully Codemasters will realise this and make the game for the actual audience and not ruin it in the hopes of gaining more sales.

  • BadBoyBonner #44 4 years ago

    Except it probably won't be called F1 Racing. Will probably be called something like Race Driver: Griddle - "the racings so hot, it'll leave you with scorch marks - Griddle from Codemasters coming this fall!"

    Glad Polyphony didn't get the license - otherwise we'd have been waiting 4 years for a demo we had to pay for and 6 years for the actual game! lol

  • Beano #45 4 years ago

    LOL!

    anyway ... the F1 game will be called Formula 1 Racing : POLE or something semi-lame like that - remember I called it :)
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 13:31

  • jordan98 #46 4 years ago

    At last! The future of F1 games has been resolved! Personally I'm sad that Studio Liverpool were not able to continue from the superb F1:CE, but at least they showed the potential and I hope Codemasters use that as a template.

    The problem Codemasters face though is that F1 is often seen as a niche market. F1 games traditionally do bad in reviews because they are usually reviewed by numpty's that do not understand the sport - I saw countless reviews of 70%-odd for F1CE, which had an F1 fan reviewed it to would have got 85%-90% easy!

    Really excited by this. Deforming tyre barriers (Dirt and Grid do...!), 2009 stats, updated quali rules, NIGHT racing (that should look rather good!), return of Spa-Francorchamps, supposedly 20 races next year, so, at least 20 tracks... Bring it on!

  • Agent_Llama #47 4 years ago

    Generally good news - would have preferred it to have gone back to Bizarre or to Polyphony I think but overall happy. Would have been nice to see another Studio Liverpool version as Championship Edition was their best F1 game by a mile, and last season was brilliant, *so* deserving of a game.

  • Feanor #48 4 years ago

    "the centre pivoting thing is just a myth, it only looks like it due to the way the chase cam works"

    Uh oh, this debate is only slightly less heated than discussions about abortion.

  • TheEnd #49 4 years ago

    Codies?

    Oh dear.

    There goes any chance of a good F1 game.

  • miiiguel #50 4 years ago

    F1 is boring, imo.

  • infoxicated #51 4 years ago

    I doubt anyone else even bid on it.

  • Hughes. #52 4 years ago

    So does this mean an entire generation of F1 games stuck at 30 fps? Or are they going to eventually get the EGO/NEON engine running at a proper frame rate for a racing game?

  • SomaticSense #53 4 years ago

    Yes, but Americans didn't give a crap about rallying and the WRC either, so ook what Codies did to DiRT to compensate.

    I'm cautiously looking forward to this. It has the potential to be fantastic as Codies are clearly very talented, but their recent pandering to the US market to get them interested in games based around subjects that are just not a part of their culture (hence why they aren't interested....), and awful handling of recent racing games, is where the 'cautiously' comes from.

    I really want to be optimistic rather than pessimistic about this, as I've been wanting an F1 game for the 360 for ages, but if there is any sign of them alienating their core European-centric F1 fans (like they did the rally and touring car fans), then they can shove it.
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 16:43

  • Junglist95 #54 4 years ago

    Great news, im a big F1 fan & haven't played an F1 game since the shitty EA games in the early days of the Gamecube (cause sony had the rights & i never brought into the playstation thing). You'd have to go all the way back to Videosystems F1 World Grand Prix on the N64 for the last good F1 game i played. Great to that Codies are in charge of this new F1 game, TOCA & Colin McRae are excellent franchises, this should be very promising can't wait, also looking foward to playin the GRID demo later tonight

  • chronom4n #55 4 years ago

    Yes!! At last a reason to get the 360. this is going to be very interesting because now we will have LIVE being implemented. Goodness me this is going to take some time for this to sink in. This is some awesome news. Lets just hope that they add G25 and DFP support and this would be great news for all us F1 fans.

    Lets just hope that codeimasters make the most of the franchise.
    Edited by 1 at 09/05/08 @ 18:13

  • T4RG4 #56 4 years ago

    Codies will make it bland. Wish Forza team had the license ;)

    Oh, for Crammond to return...

  • MrMarbles #57 4 years ago

    I can't wait to use the handbrake on the hairpins for awesome drift action.

  • TheEnd #58 4 years ago

    If only Simbin had gotten their hands on it. That would be something special.

  • T4RG4 #59 4 years ago

    Just downloaded GRID demo. Took two corners, deleted the game.

    Honestly, I thought it was that bad. Felt (to me) rubbish. Not worth my time.

  • chronom4n #60 4 years ago

    SomaticSense, very good points that you have raised. It's true that they are pandering to the american market and all because of the pastrami guy because he is supposed to be 'way extreme dude!." At the end of the day they had better make sure that they cater for the demographic that loves F1, and that would be us guys.

  • SomaticSense #61 4 years ago

    After watching qually today, I'm even more concerned about it.

    There are a lot of aspects to F1 that make it the sport it is, such as; soft, hard (option/prime) or wet tyres, fuel weight (really important), drag and downforce (especially how the cars handles behind another), and most importantly relatively realistic damage. If Codies are to take the licence seriously, they need to have all these elements for it to be a proper F1 game, and to be honest looking at DiRT and GRID, it's concerned me they might be going for the 'accessibility and sales' tactic rather than an accurate or at least honourable depiction of the sport.

    I've not played the recent Sony efforts, so I don't know if all those elements are a part of those games, but they certainly should be if they want to take this thing seriously and give us F1 fans the game we've long deserved. By all means include an 'Arcade' mode concentrating only on the basic racing, like the first PS1 game did in order for it to be a little more accessible.

    Fair enough, a lot of you are bound to go "all that's boring shit anyway, better off without it" (already heard it time and time again...). But then, what would be your interest in an F1 game anyway if all that is boring?

  • Agent_Llama #62 4 years ago

    Even the Studio Liverpool PS3 game mucked up some crucial bits - the option of when to change to wets or intermediates; the nonsensical dropping of your revs when you got a black and white flag, and the ridiculously tiny portion on either side of the track you could veer onto without getting aforementioned flags; being unable to finish your final lap in qualifying if the timer ran out.

    My concern is that the above won't be addressed by Codies, as an F1 fan I'm sure there'll be *more* of such little touches missing. It'll look the business, sure, but it'll be interesting to see whether they cater to the masses or the fans.

    *longs for the glory days of the pinnacle of console F1, F1 '97...*
    Edited by 1 at 11/05/08 @ 10:23

  • chronom4n #63 4 years ago

    @somaticsense, I have a feeling that codies are going to go to the accessibility route. I am concerned that they are not going to cater for the hardcore F1 fans who want all tha F1 has to offer within the game. If they ballsed up DiRT and GRID looks like its on steroids, then I am doubting their abilities to deliver. All I can hope for is that Sony liverpool go out with a bang with their final year in charge of the F1 license.

  • sergeantdisco #64 4 years ago

    And the award for modesty goes to....