If you wanted to drive a Porsche in a video game, for the longest time you need to play a game made by EA. The exclusivity deal has gone for so long since Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed was released in 2000.
Other games that wanted a Porsche had to go for RUF, the manufacturer that builds similarly looking cars that are based on Porsche’s chassis.
But over the years, the exclusivity deal seems to slip, as Forza (both Motorsport and Horizon) managed to get their cars as DLC, and recently the latest racing sim to hit the market, Assetto Corsa, managed to get the rights for Porsche cars as well.
In an interview with Porsche Branded Entertainment Manager Sebastian Hornung done by SpeedManiacs.com, they asked him on how Porsche and developers Assetto Corsa, Kunos Simulazioni landed the deal. This here is the translated response:
“According to Sebastian they were also always following what was going on in the gaming industry aside from EA. The license with EA runs out this year, because together they arrived at the realization that the current situation was not desirable anymore.”
Porsche’s choice to go exclusive with EA in 2000 was a smart gamble. Porsche Unleashead was a celebration of all Porsche cars throughout the times and was done well. But EA only had one racing franchise to utilise it on: the arcadey Need For Speed. Even the series took a left turn for a while and abandoned Porsche and other exotic cars for Underground and Underground 2. The only closest time the series went for simulation racing was the Need For Speed Shift and Shift 2, developed by Slightly Mad Studios that have now released Project CARS.
Needless to say, the exclusivity deal did not do the German marque the spotlight it deserves. The deal was just too long, and EA might have not been the right partner for a long-term deal. Now that the deal is set to finish and not renewed in 2017, we can now see an abundance of Porsches in many other games as Porsche won’t be seeking another exclusive deal.