TrackMania: the next game will have a new monetization model

Fyra Frost - Jun 2, 2020, 5:21 PM

With a first opus launched in 2003, the TrackMania series now includes many games. Largely arcade oriented, the license recipe created by Nadeo has a central ingredient: the possibility for vehicles to overlap during races, making any collision impossible. Because the heart of TrackMania lies in the player's ability to achieve the best time to the finish line and, therefore, follow optimal trajectories. The games also features a track editor that allows you to create even crazier races by including loopings or jumps. This is what has earned the license a place on the esports scene for years, specially with TrackMania Nations.

The latest game of the license is TrackMania² Lagoon, released in 2016 and part of the TrackaMania² series, which differs from the main series by offering specific environments. Fans of the license were therefore delighted with the announcement last February by Ubisoft of a new TrackMania game. Bearing the same name as the first title in the series, it is a remake of one of the most popular games in the series, TrackMania Nations. Scheduled to be released on July 1, 2020 on PC via Uplay and Epic Games Store, the game will be free-to-play.

But TrackMania 2020 will have a rather specific economic system that clearly does not have unanimous support from the players. Indeed, a Starter version with basic content will be available for free, and there will be two annual subscription formulas, Standard and Club, which will unlock a number of features, including the track editor. Both of them have to be paid yearly and this has earned the game many critics. It must be said that the economic model is not so explicit. You have to go to the checkout every year if you want more content, if you decide to stop your subscription you will not lose the content that you have already acquired. It is more like a renewable Season Pass.

In any case, the Starter version of this new TrackMania game will be available to everyone free of charge from July 1 on PC.