EA Parks NASCAR Franchise. For Now or For Good?

In the economic hard times of late, many industries have been greatly effected.  One, in particular, is NASCAR.  Stock car racing is one of the biggest sports in the country.  Now I know many people will argue with that because they might not watch NASCAR, but just look logically; the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama holds 125,000 people, the Daytona 500 is one of the most watched single day events every year, right behind the Super Bowl, and sponsors pay millions of dollars just to get their logo on a car knowing that if that car wins, the fans buy the product.  But recently, with companies not willing to shell out so much money, sponsors have gone down, ticket sales have dropped and the revenue of NASCAR in general is low.  And it doesn’t stop there…

For the first time in over a decade, EA Sports will NOT be releasing a NASCAR game this year.  Last serious NASCAR being NASCAR 2009 in ‘08 for Xbox 360, PS2 and PS3. According to EA Sports President Peter Moore speaking with Gamespot, both sides agreed that there was no need for an annal release of the NASCAR series.  NASCAR had also talked about not giving exclusive rights to EA after their contract expired. So what does this mean for the series. Will their be anymore? Will the franchise go to another publisher/developer?

The most recent NASCAR game: NASCAR Kart Racing for the Wii was very cartoonish, and if any NASCAR game is going to come out in the near future, it will most likely follow that type of genre.  The tendency with racing games nowadays is for more of the street racing experience offered in Need For Speed or Midnight Club. Like anything else the car scene changes over years. Exotic cars in beautiful terrains, Street racing with hooked up vehicles, rallying, and GT track racing have all come, gone and will come again. When will Nascar have its shot again? Only time will tell if theirs need for it.