Home
Forza Motorsport 4 News Post


The official Forza 4 website has posted part 1 of their Under the Hood Forza Motorsport 4 interview with Turn 10 Creative Director, Dan Greenawalt. In the interview, Dan talks about quite a few improvements to the game, as well as some disappointing news on how EA blocked Porsche from the game.

Quote:
What’s the status of Porsche in Forza Motorsport 4?

This kills me. 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.

We’ve asked our contacts at EA to reconsider their position frequently and regularly over the last 18 months. We also reached out to various influential people in gaming to lobby on our behalf, and on your behalf, but that was to no avail.

In our business, we stay friendly with all of the manufacturers and licensors necessary to deliver players rich and innovative automotive experiences. As you’d expect, this includes quite a few key people in Porsche circles. To make sure we tried everything, we consulted with these advocates and were happy to find they were already aware of the situation and lobbying from within on behalf of Forza 4--and, despite the result, we thank them for their efforts.

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. 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.

I’m very sorry for all of this. 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. As I mentioned earlier, we have added three RUF cars in Forza 4. RUF is a manufacturer in their own right, not simply an aftermarket mod shop—they completely remanufacture and enhance the models that they start from, and the results are unique, incredibly fast, and the cars look great. Losing more than 35 Porsche models is a lost opportunity for Porsche fans (as well as a lost opportunity to make future Porsche fans), but I hope that Forza 4 players understand and enjoy the new makes and models that have taken their place.

Game: Forza Motorsport 4Reader Score: 9/10 - Vote Now
Platform: Xbox 360Votes for game: 16 - View All
Forza Motorsport 4 Videos
Member Comments
# 1 rspencer86 @ 08/25/11 02:16 AM
Freaking EA...
 
# 2 JDub73 @ 08/25/11 02:42 AM
I f*ck*ng HAAATTTEEE EA...
 
# 3 tizorch @ 08/25/11 02:47 AM
As if the NCAA 12 debacle wasn't enough
 
# 4 dill911 @ 08/25/11 04:33 AM
another reason to hate EA. all they care about is advancing THIER business when they are too stupid that its hurting the entire (racing) market. so pissed at this news
 
# 5 Hunkerdown @ 08/25/11 09:28 AM
wow, as a porsche fan, including using in forza 3 all the time, this is disgusting on EA's part; Not like they are making some great racing sim game with porsche, just their need for speed crap. I want a real driving sim with all the possible racing brands in it. I might be checking out F1 2011 for my racing fix this year. First the horrible nascar game that was half assed, and now this. I will just probably stick with my forza 3 and hopefully some other sim racing game will come out, looks like F1 2011 might be my only chance.

dios mio!
 
# 6 mattsb84 @ 08/25/11 09:42 AM
Wow. I wonder what EA's reasoning for this is. I doubt we hear anything from them, as the excuse for not allowing it is probably rubbish. It is interesting to learn that the Forza team had exclusivity to the Ferrari license and you see EAs use of that license in Shift/Shift 2, so why aren't they playing nice now? This is really disappointing news. I'm hoping maybe they can work something out and we see a Porsche DLC in the future.

If EA isn't going to share the license, then they should be doing something with it. I'm all for another NFS: Porsche-centric game. Loved Porsche Unleashed.
 
# 7 ZoneBlitz @ 08/25/11 12:02 PM
EA is the Evil Empire of video games. They are to creativity and video game progress what the Soviet Union is to freedom and liberty. We should really boycott them.
 
# 8 buckeye02 @ 08/25/11 02:45 PM
now their terrible ways extend beyond sports titles to racing titles
 
# 9 Dazraz @ 08/25/11 04:08 PM
I struggle to find a reason as to why EA would do this. It's not like taking the Porsche brand away from Forza is giving EA extra sales. EA are acting like a bunch of axe wielding dictators in this matter. EA develop some great games but tarnish themselves with their desire to dominate the market, not by superior products, but by harnessing exclusive rights to licences. Sadly, it's the end user that suffers through lack of choice.
 
# 10 ven0m43 @ 08/25/11 06:23 PM
I always wondered why they didn't have more classic Porsche cars like the 917, but now i know why. EA has to be one of the worst companies to deal with and are destroying future games with the dumb exclusive rights.
 
# 11 canes21 @ 08/25/11 07:47 PM
More reasons to dislike EA. Really hate this as Porsche is one of my favorite brands of cars.
 
# 12 lnin0 @ 08/25/11 08:44 PM
this is just nucking futs
 
# 13 SkillzKillz719 @ 08/25/11 10:30 PM
Common EA...
 
# 14 crabcola @ 08/26/11 11:45 AM
Forza 3 was probably my favorite racing game of all time, and I will still buy 4 on release day, despite this disappointing news. I can't help but assume this was sheer jealousy on EA's part.
 
# 15 Flawless @ 08/26/11 08:33 PM
Ian Bell, Head of Development Slightly Mad Studios:

http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/sh....php?p=1440464

Quote:
Ian, could you comment on the possible consequences of the Porsche licensing issue of FM4 (or cars licensing in general) for C.A.R.S.?

Microsoft have a Ferrari exclusive, EA a Porsche one. I imagine that the cost involved in sublicensing the Ferrari license from Microsoft imposed on EA has seen then return the favour. Can't say I blame them.
Quote:
How did Ferrari cars appear in Shift1? Was it a result of the tie up with EA?

Microsoft were paid and multiple hoops were jumped through. I can't go into details as it's NDA.

This is fairly hypocritical from Microsoft I have to say, knowing the facts.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...orsche-license

Quote:
Frankly this is so much hypocrisy from Microsoft I'm shocked. Suffice to say I suspect EA are doing no more than giving Microsoft a taste of their own medicine here. Being involved in the Shift franchise for EA, I'm aware of the hoops that EA had to jump through and the cost associated with getting a Ferrari sublicense from Microsoft (which they retain an exclusive on).

I suspect it's come back to bite them and they don't like it.
Quote:
Check out the last two racing games from EA (Shift 2 and Hot Pursuit) and count the number of Ferrari's in there.

(It's none BTW)

Microsoft are making the noise but the reality is something else.
 

Post A Comment
Only OS members can post comments
Please login or register to post a comment.