In 2020 it was announced that Codemasters had obtained the official WRC license for the period from 2023 to 2027. This means that from next year the developer will be the only studio to make officially licensed WRC games. When that agreement was announced, Codemasters indicated that it would not be at the expense of the well-known DiRT franchise. The studio said it remained committed to DiRT and even reported that the team behind the DiRT Rally games was already working on a new part at the time. Now this seems to be turning out differently.
Insider Tom Henderson reports namely that Codemasters is now fully focused on its first WRC game when it comes to rally games. DiRT Rally 3 was indeed in development, but according to Henderson was scrapped at the end of last year. In fact, it seems that the entire DiRT series has been put on hold for the time being. Codemasters will focus on nothing but F1, GRID and WRC for the foreseeable future, Henderson said.
Henderson relies on his sources, but there are already concrete indications that point in the same direction. EA, which acquired Codemasters early last year, has it official Twitter account of the DiRT games have changed their name. The account is now simply called “EA SPORTS Rally,” which also seems to suggest that the focus is no longer on DiRT.
In short: enough indications that we will hear little or nothing from the DiRT games in the coming years and that Codemasters will fully focus on WRC, now that the license is in the hands of Codemasters. Of course, Henderson’s report has not been confirmed, so consider it a rumor for now. It’s not yet known when Codemasters’ new WRC game will be officially announced, but it’s likely to be released next year, when the license will officially go to Codemasters.
