Development Roadmap for EA Sports WRC Revealed

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EA Sports WRC Ott Tanak.jpg
Many questions were asked about whether EA Sports WRC would be the beginning of an annual release like other EA racing titles and previous WRC-licenced games, but it appears not to be the case judging by their roadmap.

Since EA Sports WRC was released in October 2023, the EA Sports and Codemasters team have been accumulating feedback from the community. This has resulted in helping the devs steer development in the direction the player base has indicated they want to see the game go in.

As a result, the EA Sports WRC development roadmap has been revealed, and players can see what is in the pipeline for the title over the next year. This means there will not be a new title release for 2024.

EA Sports WRC roadmap.jpg

Judging by this graphic, there will not be a new WRC game for at least more than a year. Image: EA.com

EA Sports WRC Roadmap​

First up as part of the plan set for release only a week from now on July 30, the Season 6 Rally Pass begins with new liveries, driver suits, helmets and more. But the first major new addition arriving in October 2024, the WRC 2024 Season Expansion will bring the game in line with the 2024 season in terms of liveries, vehicles, locations and stages.

Players who pick up the WRC 2024 Season Expansion will also receive the next two DLC packs that have also been announced in this roadmap at no extra cost. The first one is set to arrive in the winter period as early as December most likely, and the second will come around in Spring of next year. Those who have not purchased the WRC 2024 Season Expansion can still buy each DLC individually.

EA Sports WRC Season 6 Rally Pass.jpg

Here is what you can expect in the Season 6 Rally Pass starting July 30. Image: EA.com

Additionally in October, players who do not already own EA Sports WRC can pick up the 2024 Season Edition of the game which will come with the WRC 2024 Season Expansion and the two aforementioned DLCs when they release free of charge.

Lastly, the EA Sports WRC team have confirmed that they are working to resume the competitive series with online qualifiers via RaceNet and an in-person finale. It will be the first WRC sim racing series since EA acquired the licence from Kylotonn.

No Annual Release​

As we stated at the start of this article, all of this means the WRC games are no longer an annual release akin to the old Kylotonn licenced games and EA's F1 titles. There will be no new game for at least the next year, so the next instalment in the EA Sports WRC series could be released in 2026.

However, the next major regulation shake-up in WRC is set for 2027 so it may make more sense to wait for these new regulations to be introduced.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1800564969747906873

In any case, this may come as music to many rally sim fans. The common consensus in sim racing is that yearly annual titles are never as high quality of a product compared to ones that are at least continually worked on for a few years.

What do you think of the EA Sports WRC roadmap? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
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RedLMR56
Luca Munro
Biggest sim racing esports fan in the world.

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Comments

M
This is surprising coming from EA, but it's probably due to the game not being very successful. Unfortunately new content will not fix the core issues of the game and it's lackluster and very limited career mode. If along with the new content they improve the career mode and make the WRC events more realistic ( more tire sets, more stages per rally, better AI, dynamic schedules so its not the same stages per rally each season) then the game might get more traction.

I feel the driving is fine and the stages are pretty good, so there is still hope.
 
Trebor901
What's everyone on about its unplayable? I've only got it on xbox and only series s at that and over the last few updates it's improved massively. Plays really well, smooth and no screen tearing anymore.

The idea of not doing a yearly release is a better idea. WRC game I get the impression make decent but not overly huge sales numbers so why bring out a new title every year when you can just add the new stages and cars to the current game.

I swear people expect far too much from games these days.
 
Chatopex
WRC is quite a fun game for me. It's not the rally simulator we were expecting, but I love that the stages are longer thanks to the Unreal engine. The EGO engine was good in the past, but it couldn't handle the need for longer stages. When it comes to graphics in racing video games, I prioritize handling over visuals. For me, the driving experience is the most important aspect. Whether it’s arcade or simulation...
 
Ole Marius Myrvold
Club Staff
Premium
AyrtJ97 said:
I'm happy they are not going the typical "officialy licensed sports game" way of releasing a new game every year, to be honest.
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It follows the EA Sports games without a year in the title.

I remember when it was released, that I took a look, and Madden, NHL, EA FC (FIFA) and F1 had a year number in the title, and those games are yearly releases.
The golf game and UFC game does not, and is not a yearly release.

So it the EA-way of naming games, it makes sense that the WRC game wouldn't be a yearly release either. It will be interesting to see the College Football 25 game, how that will be. Yearly or one-off or what it will be.
 
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Trebor901
Ole Marius Myrvold said:
It follows the EA Sports games without a year in the title.

I remember when it was released, that I took a look, and Madden, NHL, EA FC (FIFA) and F1 had a year number in the title, and those games are yearly releases.
The golf game and UFC game does not, and is not a yearly release.

So it the EA-way of naming games, it makes sense that the WRC game wouldn't be a yearly release either. It will be interesting to see the College Football 25 game, how that will be. Yearly or one-off or what it will be.
Click to expand...
Takes the pressure off of what I imagine for EA is a pretty small development team in that the new content doesn't have to be developed alongside a whole new game.
 
beav910
Aren't a lot of EA games developed using Unreal? It's probably coming from the top down they need to use that engine.
 
Stephen Bailey
beav910 said:
Aren't a lot of EA games developed using Unreal? It's probably coming from the top down they need to use that engine.
Click to expand...
It was a decision taken long before EA arrived. One reason was that the old engine was already stretched to its limits with DR 2.0 for stage lengths. Whether that was worth the engine change for some depends on personal opinion from there. There have been good chats with the Codies guys in the EA WRC Discord. :)
 
T
Stephen Bailey said:
It was a decision taken long before EA arrived. One reason was that the old engine was already stretched to its limits with DR 2.0 for stage lengths. Whether that was worth the engine change for some depends on personal opinion from there. There have been good chats with the Codies guys in the EA WRC Discord. :)
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if the steam notes and the massive discount shortly after the release mean the game has failed, the engine choice is the main reason I think, a very bad choice. Every body knows even the devs, that the game is under the water.
 
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Trebor901
beav910 said:
Aren't a lot of EA games developed using Unreal? It's probably coming from the top down they need to use that engine.
Click to expand...
No their games use the frostbite engine that was developed by DICE. F1 and WRC are the two current exceptions.
 
jackyboi
this would be great if the game didn't have some fundamental flaws with the engine that cannot be fixed with updates and patches
 
mechsicko
While I am still waiting for VR to be in a decent state and other things to be fixed that affect my ability to play, I am pleased to see this will be DLC model moving forward vs new game. It suggests they will eventually get the base game sorted, plus minimizes community fracturing as things progress
 
Metla
Premium
I have no issue with the business model, But it relies on having a solid foundation to build on.

Which they don't have.
 

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