Forza Motorsport 4 Interview - Under the Hood: Part 1 (EA Blocks Porsche From Game)

[Steve_OS]

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.

[rspencer86]

Freaking EA...

[JDub73]

I f*ck*ng HAAATTTEEE EA...

[tizorch]

As if the NCAA 12 debacle wasn't enough

[Jdoug312]

Now this is a company I wouldn't hesitate forking over my hard earned money to. Had the situation been reversed, EA would've said "Unfortunately Porsche vehicles were unable to make it in this year's version." Forza however went above and beyond, even telling us the lengths they went to get the liscense. I am completely new to racing games, but decided after play Forza 3 over a friend's house that I would get Forza 4. I'm buying Forza 4 on release day, because apparently I'm suppporting a company that deserves support (and the game's freakin' awesome).

[dill911]

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

[Hunkerdown]

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!

[mattsb84]

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.