EA blocks Porsche from appearing in Forza 4

Dohc-WP

Ron Burgundy
Racing game fans to suffer due to exclusive agreement.

In an interview on forzamotorsport.net with Turn 10 creative director Dan Greenawalt it's been revealed Porsche will not feature in Forza Motorsport 4.

"This kills me," says Greenawalt in the piece. "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."

According to Greenawalt Turn 10 has asked its contacts at EA to reconsider their position "frequently and regularly over the last 18 months," but to no avail.

Even "key people in Porsche circles" lobbying from within on behalf of Forza 4 were unsuccessful.

A classic Porsche from Forza 3 that won't be appearing in Forza 4.

"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," continues Greenawalt. "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."

Forza and Porsche fans have been speculating for months that Forza 4 would not feature Porsche. Suspicions were first raised when a RUF RGT8 was announced as a pre-order vehicle. RUF, an independent German company that builds cars from unmarked Porsche bodies and chassis, is traditionally used by non-EA developers who want Porsche lookalikes. Games like Gran Turismo 5, Test Drive Unlimited 2, Driver: San Francisco and many more feature RUF cars because they can't have Porsches.

The EA decision to refuse to sub-license Porsche to Turn 10 anymore is likely the result of EA's SHIFT series attempting to make a dent in the sim market. We're reached out to EA for comment.

Ultimately the real victims are racing sim fans, particularly Porsche aficionados. It's worth noting that, despite the fact EA holds the exclusive Porsche license, SHIFT 2 only features around a dozen Porsches. Forza Motorsport 3 features more than 35. It can be argued Turn 10 has made a better use of its Porsche sub-license than EA has recently made with the license itself.

"I'm very sorry for all of this," concludes Greenawalt. "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."

This defnately Suxxx

Source IGN
 
I don't blame EA or Turn 10 I blame the morons at Porsche and Ferrari who sign these exclusivity agreements. Surely growing their brand image is better than just getting slightly more money from an exclusivity agreement, but yeah what would I know. :(
 
This is one of those things that have always bugged me, because different racing games have different agendas, some are sim, others are arcade racers and the rest are a mix of the two, but I want to race these vehicles in different conditions, tracks, game modes, etc.

This is a sad day for racers indeed :(
 
Too true ManiaC. Large automobile companies cannot see these agreements as a viable source of revenue relative to their earnings so they are in the end only good for marketing purposes. The agreements on such rights should be much more flexible
 
I'm not to upset about this, I've never been a Porche fan, Only Porche I would have loved driving would have been that Porche Panemera S V8 Turbo..I've been lucky enough to drive in one...and my GOD it shifts..Other than that I can't think of another one.
 
Eish...exclusivity agreements are actually starting to get into the way of progress at the moment. At first I thought it was a good idea, but after reading this, I am starting to have my doubts.

Look, I don't end up driving Porsches in these games in any way, but I would like to have the option to. A lot of people are fans of Porsche and like to use them in driving games. Now that means that they are stuck with Forza 3, or whatever nonsense EA puts out as the next Need for Speed game. Which basically mean that if you want to drive a Porsche, you have to buy this game.

Hopefully someone comes to their senses and sorts this problem out soon. I am quite keen on getting Forza 4, because it is an actual driving simulator, something that EA has yet to master.
 
This is a real shame that EA has chosen to exercise the exclusivity clause. I did enjoy Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed. One can only wonder if they are making a revival of that.
 
This is a real shame that EA has chosen to exercise the exclusivity clause. I did enjoy Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed. One can only wonder if they are making a revival of that.

Oh yeah, I remember that. I played the hell out of that when I was a laaitie.
 
Eish...exclusivity agreements are actually starting to get into the way of progress at the moment. At first I thought it was a good idea, but after reading this, I am starting to have my doubts.

Look, I don't end up driving Porsches in these games in any way, but I would like to have the option to. A lot of people are fans of Porsche and like to use them in driving games. Now that means that they are stuck with Forza 3, or whatever nonsense EA puts out as the next Need for Speed game. Which basically mean that if you want to drive a Porsche, you have to buy this game.

Hopefully someone comes to their senses and sorts this problem out soon. I am quite keen on getting Forza 4, because it is an actual driving simulator, something that EA has yet to master.

Totally agree.Can't they just all get along,the gaming public has to bear the brunt of this foolishness.
 
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