Four years feels like a long time in sim racing, but having announced the acquisition back in 2021, there’s a new Motorsport Games agreement to complete on Studio 397 to take full ownership of the studio.
It was announced as completed back in May 2021 by the then Motorsports Games CEO Dmitry Kozko and Studio 397 Direct of Studio Marcel Offermans, both of whom have since left their respective companies. At that point, plans for the developers included a British Touring Car game, along with what has now become Le Mans Ultimate. But it turns out payments to Luminis, the previous owners of Studio 397, extended a way beyond that, and most recently a payment of $0.6 million and $0.3 million in interest were deferred.
In a new SEC filing a new payment plan has been agreed, in which Motorsport Games will pay Luminimis a total of $750,000 in five equal instalments of $150,000 on March 5, April 2, 2025, May 5, 2025, June 4, 2025 and July 3, 2025. “Upon receipt of the entire Settlement Payment by Luminis, all amounts owed by the Company under the Studio397 Purchase Agreement, including the Deferred Payments, shall be deemed to have been paid and settled in full and Luminis shall release its security interest in the pledged stock of Studio397.”
It’s interesting that Motorsport Games has become entirely reliant on the performance of Studio 397 titles as they’ve shed developers (704Games and Black Delta) and licenses over recent years (including NASCAR, IndyCar and the renegotiation around BTCC), despite not having completed full ownership, and that it’s finally being settled at a time the publisher is still actively looking for significant investment or an acquisition itself, due to ongoing losses.
Of the three titles in the Motorsport Games portfolio, Le Mans Ultimate is doing fairly well in Early Access, any development on rFactor2 appears to be pretty dormant, and aside from recent disruption for KartKraft players, the only future for that title is likely to be a sale to a new home at some point. Which means after all the activity of the last few years, Motorsport Games is essentially just Studio 397 as far as it seems from the outside.
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