With the true follow-up to Assetto Corsa set for release in early access later this year, one has to wonder when the spin-off game ACC will be phased out. But with how it is going, it may be too early to pull the plug.
Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni
The GT2 Car Pack for Assetto Corsa Competizione was released 24 January, and not only did it deliver cars like the KTM X-BOW GT2, Maserati MC20 and Porsche 935, but also the Red Bull Ring. The chefs at Kunos have been clearly cooking up a banquet for us starving sim racers.
Along with that will be the highly-anticipated release of the Nordschleife set for spring, ACC shows no signs of slowing down. The community continues to flourish, with popular independent leagues organised through the likes of The SimGrid among others as well as regularly scheduled matchmaking races run by Low Fuel Motorsport.
With the workforce at Kunos being small, it must be asked as to how they intend to proceed. With the pending ‘summer’ release of the Assetto Corsa follow-up in early access, there is plenty that has already been said about how the development work will be done across the board.
But unlike F1 game developers Codemasters with a claimed workforce of around 700 people as of 2019, Kunos is said to be a team of between 11 and 50 with the recent departure of Head of Vehicle & Handling R&D Aristotelis Vasilakos. So it is perhaps understandable that new content does not come pouring out regularly.
Before the GT2 Car Pack, the previous content update to ACC was back in April 2023. The year before was the last time ACC received two updates in the span of a few months; the Challenger Pack in March and the American Track Pack in June. Both of which only focused on either cars or circuits respectively.
With the game having the official SRO licence, there is still a huge pool of content they could in theory have added. The community is constantly pleading for tracks from all of the GT World Challenge series across the world, and there are even some cars that can be found in other SRO-sanctioned championships such as TC America.
Subsequently, all that potential content could realistically sustain the lifespan of the game for years to come.
With how different both the original Assetto Corsa and ACC are, they appeal to different corners of the car-driving game community. The original features all kinds of vehicles, both road and racing alike, and the PC modding scene is second to none so every type of sim racer is appeased. In stark contrast, Competizione is a honed GT motorsport platform exclusively.
They are pretty much as far apart as Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon, but is perhaps unlikely that they can continue developing updates for both ACC and the original’s true follow-up. As unlike the Forza games, they have the same team working on them.
But with how popular ACC remains and how it presumably continues to make money for Kunos and publisher 505 Games, it is seriously worth considering what can be done to continue supporting it into 2025 and beyond.
No business is going to put in more money to something if they cannot guarantee they can earn it back and profit. We looked to a website called VG Insights which provides estimated statistics for all types of games available on Steam. According to VG Insights, Assetto Corsa Competizione throughout its lifetime has apparently earned a gross revenue of $25.3M through Steam sales.
This sounds like a lot, and it is of course. But that is over a period of over five years and Kunos do not get all of it, some goes to shareholders at Digital Bros, the owners of 505 Games. Not to forget they have been reducing their workforce across many of their companies, not including Kunos.
If you compare the estimated gross revenue of ACC on VG Insights to another but quite different racing title, Forza Horizon 5 – released late 2021 – earned $206.9M just on Steam alone. That is before even factoring in the massive market on Xbox where the series first gained notoriety. You see the issue?
The plain truth is, the hardcore realism sim racing community is still too niche to warrant a major expansion. Digital Bros could throw all the resources at 505 Games and Kunos, they could give us every one of the cars and tracks that are in all the SRO championships across the world. But would enough people be buying them to warrant the expansions?
To really warrant it, the DLC costs may have to drastically increase, and who is going to accept that? With how much demand there is for the Nordschleife, it is very likely that the DLC featuring it will have a price above the average for ACC update packs.
Can you imagine a price hike for the addition of maybe two new cars or at most, three new tracks every year?
It is a tough pill to swallow but surely Digital Bros and 505 Games must not have the confidence that diverting resources to Kunos so both ACC and ‘AC2‘ can get regular content add-ons and support will be profitable.
But the subject matter seems to be too small to warrant making it for a profit, a real Catch-22 situation which is unfortunate. Ultimately, it will all come down to how people speak with their wallets. If ACC somehow generates more profit, more resources may be allocated towards Kunos, and who knows? Maybe ACC will have a life beyond ‘AC2‘s release.
Do you believe Assetto Corsa Competizione will continue getting support after ‘Assetto Corsa 2‘ releases? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
Image credit: Kunos Simulazioni
The GT2 Car Pack for Assetto Corsa Competizione was released 24 January, and not only did it deliver cars like the KTM X-BOW GT2, Maserati MC20 and Porsche 935, but also the Red Bull Ring. The chefs at Kunos have been clearly cooking up a banquet for us starving sim racers.
Along with that will be the highly-anticipated release of the Nordschleife set for spring, ACC shows no signs of slowing down. The community continues to flourish, with popular independent leagues organised through the likes of The SimGrid among others as well as regularly scheduled matchmaking races run by Low Fuel Motorsport.
With the workforce at Kunos being small, it must be asked as to how they intend to proceed. With the pending ‘summer’ release of the Assetto Corsa follow-up in early access, there is plenty that has already been said about how the development work will be done across the board.
ACC: Plenty of Potential Content
Assetto Corsa Competizione is billed as the official game of the GT World Challenge, with a laser focus on GT racing and featuring the cars and tracks from various championships organised by the SRO Motorsports Group.But unlike F1 game developers Codemasters with a claimed workforce of around 700 people as of 2019, Kunos is said to be a team of between 11 and 50 with the recent departure of Head of Vehicle & Handling R&D Aristotelis Vasilakos. So it is perhaps understandable that new content does not come pouring out regularly.
Before the GT2 Car Pack, the previous content update to ACC was back in April 2023. The year before was the last time ACC received two updates in the span of a few months; the Challenger Pack in March and the American Track Pack in June. Both of which only focused on either cars or circuits respectively.
With the game having the official SRO licence, there is still a huge pool of content they could in theory have added. The community is constantly pleading for tracks from all of the GT World Challenge series across the world, and there are even some cars that can be found in other SRO-sanctioned championships such as TC America.
Subsequently, all that potential content could realistically sustain the lifespan of the game for years to come.
With how different both the original Assetto Corsa and ACC are, they appeal to different corners of the car-driving game community. The original features all kinds of vehicles, both road and racing alike, and the PC modding scene is second to none so every type of sim racer is appeased. In stark contrast, Competizione is a honed GT motorsport platform exclusively.
They are pretty much as far apart as Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon, but is perhaps unlikely that they can continue developing updates for both ACC and the original’s true follow-up. As unlike the Forza games, they have the same team working on them.
But with how popular ACC remains and how it presumably continues to make money for Kunos and publisher 505 Games, it is seriously worth considering what can be done to continue supporting it into 2025 and beyond.
Could They Expand?
As we have already said, it could be a challenge for the team at Kunos to feasibly handle the responsibility of creating content for both the upcoming Assetto Corsa sequel and Competizione. But if there is still a lot of demand for it, then what can stop 505 Games from helping Kunos expand? Well, it again comes down to money.No business is going to put in more money to something if they cannot guarantee they can earn it back and profit. We looked to a website called VG Insights which provides estimated statistics for all types of games available on Steam. According to VG Insights, Assetto Corsa Competizione throughout its lifetime has apparently earned a gross revenue of $25.3M through Steam sales.
This sounds like a lot, and it is of course. But that is over a period of over five years and Kunos do not get all of it, some goes to shareholders at Digital Bros, the owners of 505 Games. Not to forget they have been reducing their workforce across many of their companies, not including Kunos.
If you compare the estimated gross revenue of ACC on VG Insights to another but quite different racing title, Forza Horizon 5 – released late 2021 – earned $206.9M just on Steam alone. That is before even factoring in the massive market on Xbox where the series first gained notoriety. You see the issue?
The plain truth is, the hardcore realism sim racing community is still too niche to warrant a major expansion. Digital Bros could throw all the resources at 505 Games and Kunos, they could give us every one of the cars and tracks that are in all the SRO championships across the world. But would enough people be buying them to warrant the expansions?
To really warrant it, the DLC costs may have to drastically increase, and who is going to accept that? With how much demand there is for the Nordschleife, it is very likely that the DLC featuring it will have a price above the average for ACC update packs.
Can you imagine a price hike for the addition of maybe two new cars or at most, three new tracks every year?
It is a tough pill to swallow but surely Digital Bros and 505 Games must not have the confidence that diverting resources to Kunos so both ACC and ‘AC2‘ can get regular content add-ons and support will be profitable.
Demand Too Big, Supply Too Small
In conclusion, Kunos are a small team of incredibly dedicated people who have a world of expectations levelled against them. Like all gaming development teams of course, but the games and communities of Assetto Corsa and Competizione are too big to satisfy the demand when it comes to content.But the subject matter seems to be too small to warrant making it for a profit, a real Catch-22 situation which is unfortunate. Ultimately, it will all come down to how people speak with their wallets. If ACC somehow generates more profit, more resources may be allocated towards Kunos, and who knows? Maybe ACC will have a life beyond ‘AC2‘s release.
Do you believe Assetto Corsa Competizione will continue getting support after ‘Assetto Corsa 2‘ releases? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
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