The sim racing world was in hysterics this morning, upon speculation that SimBin Studios were shutting their doors. A status posted on the Facebook profile of former employee AnneSofie W. Madsen (since removed) stated that SimBin was going bankrupt and she was looking for new work.
However, SimBin producer Jay Ekkel has given us an update on our forums, telling us that SimBin will live on, albeit with a few changes:
“The actual story in short is this:
“New studio, new location, new name, (almost) the same team. Be ensured that all development on the project will continue.
More interesting news to follow soon!”
We had hoped we could announce the news and the future plans ourselves, but the first half of news got out already. So some patience required as more news will come soon.”
RaceRoom Racing Experience is also confirmed to be continuing along with the new SimBin (whatever it will be named), but I find it interesting how Jay’s statement states “The Project”, so could there be hope for a new title on the horizon?
It would have been a shame to see SimBin go under, with its storied history in the industry, so I’m excited to hear about this new chapter in the company. What are your thoughts on SimBin’s restructuring? Let us know in the comments!
with the project i actually meant the project…..the one we have been working one all this time 😛
That is GTR3, isn’t it?
I don’t understand- same crew, same “project”…. different company name. So this will achieve a different result? How will this save the company or the content? I’m not ripping into Simbin, I am genuinely curious how this is going to make Simbin the top of the heap once again. We all wanted GTR3 and ended up with RRRE which is why Simbin went bankrupt in the first place. If the new company makes GTR3, this might work but it’s the ONLY way IMHO.
Without going into much detail..One of the major gain for us is recruitment.
Right now the name/studio is/was contractually tied to the location in LDK. Although it is a very nice, beautiful little town, its somewhat located “far from civilasation”. Two times a day a direct train from the largest city arrives, from any airport the trip takes several hours by car, and by train even longer.
So when recruiting we would get very interesting and talented candidates only to not get them since relocating there was a nono….Or as worse young talent will leave us to go to larger more vibrant and exciting cities/studio locations..
So the new location, to be announced when everything is final, bigger town, (university with several game directions to follow, a huge amount of smaller start-up studios (work for hire when needed), new young talent across the whole town. It makes it so much more interesting and easier for people to relocate or to stay where they are!
Thanks for the update! Looking forward to seeing what happens 🙂
I have really enjoyed SimBin titles. I have even enjoyed a little R3E but quickly got bored of ‘time attack’ and the prices seemed a little high. I will keep an eye and will come back if some online racing happens. I don’t have the inclination to do a iRacing sub so I have enjoyed Simraceway because you can race online and car prices are very reasonable. I don’t necessarily care if it’s not the latest engine. I care about value. Take note Simbin, if you want revenue from this venture you need to provide value that I can see, not what you think I should see.