The popular North American racing championship has had several game adaptations, but they will be leaving digital stores. 

Motorsport Games held the Nascar license for the game adaptations, but next year iRacing will take over. As a result, existing Nascar games and their DLC will no longer be available for purchase after December 31, 2024. Motorsport Games has posted a statement on Twitter about this, and of course the games you already bought will still be playable (and Ubisoft could have learned from this example, as the first part of The Crew became unavailable… but at least The Crew 2 and The Crew: Motorfest won’t repeat that). 

“To the Nascar gaming community! As of December 31, 2024, all Nascar game titles and their DLC content will no longer be available for purchase on all digital storefronts, but will remain playable after that date. This includes the Nascar Heat, Nascar Rivals, and Nascar: Ignition franchises. Please be on the lookout for various platform promotions this December to complete your Nascar console game collection while you can! We sincerely thank our community for the enthusiasm and support they’ve shown for these games over the years and hope you’ve enjoyed racing with us,” the statement read.  

Last October, we learned that the license for Nascar simulation-style console racing games had been acquired by iRacing. 704 Games, a subsidiary of Motorsport Games, will continue development and a new console Nascar game will be released sometime in 2025. The change of licensees, however, raises the question of what to do about the preservation of games (which Denuvo, for example, prevents). 

If a game is no longer available for purchase and we can’t buy it on disk, then Valve’s Gabe Newell’s 2011 statement comes true: “Piracy is mostly done because of unavailability… and if we’re interested in an older Nascar Heat, we have no other option! 

Source: Gamesindustry