Racing Genre Is Dying, Split/Second Will Save It

Racing games are quite popular offering players a great adrenaline-filled experience with exciting races in some of the fastest cars in production today. But, sadly, things haven't been going so well recently, with the flagship Need For Speed franchise getting caught in the dust of other titles.

However, things will change for the whole racing genre, at least according to Disney's Black Rock Studios, which launched the off-road racing title Pure last year and announced a few months ago the action and destruction-oriented game Split/Second. The studio head, Tony Beckwith, has just talked with Develop, sharing his beliefs on the state of the racing genre and how it needs to pull off a U-turn in order to stay alive.

“If you look at the sales figures, the racing genre is in many respects dying out – take Mario Kart out of the equation and the category is in a dire way. I think this genre is ripe for something new and inventive to give it a kick start,” Beckwith says. His statement is supported by the game director, Nick Baynes: “We’re all fans of street racing here, but as a genre it is relatively stale – the evolution is only coming from how you customise cars, which can only serve to remove you from the action – I think Split/Second will do the opposite.”

Split/Second promises to deliver a very intricate experience to players, as they will be the protagonist of a TV show in which drivers race against each other and have the possibility to trigger environmental explosions and demolitions that can gravely affect the race at any time.

With Pure impressing through its interesting concept and beauty, Split/Second is looking quite promising. Hopefully the team at Black Rock will deliver on their promises and turn the whole racing genre around and back into mainstream success. Until 2010, when the game is scheduled to appear, we can still look forward to other titles that promise the same thing.