Please Sony, get the license back and give the game to Polyphony Digital and I promise I'll buy it. Multiple copies even.

That being said, I don't think anyone doubted that Bernie Ecclestone is a greedy ...ermm... fellow.

I'm glad to hear it, this means whoever gets the license will probably make it for Xbox360 too. Having platform dedicated license like this is just not profitable enough. I hope Codemasters gets it, the other two developers are just not good enough for racing games.

Bernies a moron. There hasn't been a decent F1 game in a while. Hopefully who ever picks up the licence does good

Could the reason that the games don't do so well be that F1 is boring?

If anything, the F1 outing on the PS3 was a technical showcase. And a good one at that, considering it was a launch game.

Gameplay...well...it's F1. It can be fun at times, but isn't as often as you'd like it to.

Oh! How many years I've waited for this! I remember the old days of Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix series... good stuff. But then Sony got the exclusive license and killed the chances of a good PC F1 simulator ever coming out. It's been like what, 6 years?

Exclusive licenses suck.

Now if only Simbin were to get a license to make an F1 game... oh my, oh my... so much drooling.

Codemasters need to get an F1 game in their DIRT engine. For the damage and graphics, not the handling!

this is so good news! finally i could see some f1 games.

Makes sense to me, selling an G2 game with F1 like cars and fake brands can't hurt. Or, ya know, they could spend the time they take making cars have perfect resemble to real life cars making the gameplay enjoyable.

This news has been around for a while (I would have sent it in if I'd realised that Kotaku hadn't yet mentioned it!).

I'll welcome anyone else to pick up the license (not to say I thought Sony did a bad job or anything), but if Sony are not going to pay such a high amount, who is?

It'll come down to EA or Ubisoft, and with those two, you never know what kind of game you're going to get...

If no-one picks it up, Bernie will have to lower his asking price, and then Sony could come back again, you never know.

I like the idea of Codemasters though. They can make some good racing games.

@dionion: Why give it to PD, so you wont see but one F1 game every five years? I love GT as much as the next person, but PD couldn't even give us GT on the PSP. I hope whoever makes these games in th future can do a good job with the sport for once.

Codemasters... meh. Their games are alright. But really. For a serious, high-class simulation, it's gotta be Simbin.

Anybody remember Virtua Racing? That game was awesome. They should make another one of those.

Also, off topic, but is the "Next" button on the front page (to go to older posts) not showing up for anybody else? I tried Safari and Firefox, but it's not there in either browser.

@kylenalepa: Never mind, the button's back. Weird.

Oh good, Codemasters. Formula 1 is a perfect fit for their policy of churning out unoriginal sequels to games that weren't that good when they first made them on the PS1.

@photoboy: Spot on.

Turn10 would do a great job.

Oh so now EA will gobble it up and keep churning out a mediocre game. Nothings changed.

@thinkfreemind: That's true, though by their standards F1 is a very small game. 11 different cars and about 20 tracks, piece of cake compared to a GT game. I know it won't happen but I can always hope, right?
After driving the Ferrari F2007 around Suzuka and Fuji in GT5P my expectations from F1 games went up.
Anyway, given the realistic choices I 'd be alright if Codemasters got it. Anyone but EA, I did the mistake to buy EA's F1 2001 and it was horrible.

I take issue with the general criticism of F1 Championship edition. It's a well done game. Back when it came out, as usual I believed the generally blah reviews by burned out or biased critics, then I got around to renting it earlier this year and found I really liked it. My wheel's supported, rumble's there now. And really there's nothing major wrong with the game. The speed sensation is really well done. Only some of the weather is impossibly hard to drive in. F1:CE has excellent graphics, IMO on par with all of the best racers out since 2006.

Now I want to buy it, and I'm finding it's actually hard to find (used anyway). Multiplatform is probably the way to go on the next one. Got to give the 360/PC players some F1, too, since it is a worldwide event. And clearly $75-mil is not reasonable for this license.

Then again, when GT5 comes out I'm hoping it has enough F1-style action to keep me from buying an all new F1-licenced game.

@Malidictus: actually, I think its because the games have been too much of a simulation. F1 is actually much more exciting than football; at least to me.

@solar_tf: come on now! you know that no matter who buys it, it's not coming to the PC. Too much pirates and piracies

@thinkfreemind: Not that I'm supporting PD's release schedule; would you rather there be yearly F1 games like EA does it?? I think putting out yearly sports games is pointless in this day and age.

Not surprised. F1 is a so-called sport owned by a greedy mobster.

Racing games aren't exactly what I would call 'exciting'. Especially licensed ones.

Who took a picture of an F1 car with Predator directly in front of the lens, blurring shit up? :/

The next one should have a minigame featuring Max Mosley's favorite pass time: Nazi bondage play with a hooker.

@KirbySS: Oh. Beaten by the ALT tag. Bah.

F1 games are the only sport I can think of where playing the simulation is more fun than watching the real sport.

Get a decent F1 sim out for the Xbox 360 and I'll be in the queue to buy it, for sure.

But now is the time to liven up the franchise with the inclusion of a Nazi-prostitute-bondage-orgy minigame!

This is GREAT news.
No platform exclusivity and hopefully an F1 game that not only looks good it has some decent physics and plays well too. The recent few years ones have been abysmal.

@Darkedge: The F1 game for PS3 looks amazing and has very good physics and was made by the F1 loving brits. Far better than anything that could be made by the retard fest companies that make 360 Racing games , Forza and PGR are terrible as hell, bottom line. I would hate it if some terrible company gets hold of it and tries to make it all appealing to the masses, turns it into mario cart F1 basically. That would be the plan on the 360 or god forbid the Wii. F1 must be made as a simulation and not made for mindless kiddy fun.

@phicaluk:Mosley is terrible, I can't wait for him to be gone.

EA will get it for sure and it'l be released every year with just a different start menu.

I don't care who holds the rights per say (though Sony has done a great job IMO with the license). I just want a new F1 game and I want it NOW! I would also prefer to see the game with built in DL content such as track changes and driver line up/rule changes as a season progresses. I would also like to see for DL seasonal track line ups and driver changes available as an expansion pack every year as opposed to having to buy a whole new game each year (I'm looking at you EA!).

This of course is provided the physics engine and general game play are tight to begin with.

I don't follow any kinda of racing but moto/supercross, but from Bernie's comment about Danika Patrick(sp?) I already knew he was an asshole.

I really like F1 Champ Edition on the PS3, its a shame it wasn't a big seller but its s**t like Sony even put out a version for last year (Hamiltons debut season).

The poster who said Polyphony Digital should make the game is bang on, they would do an excellent job with the game but they would only make one every 5 yrs most likely at that rate! They could do DL each season to update the roster whilst they make significantly larger changes to the main game engine.

F1 is borrring.. GTR is much more fun because
-if you accidently "touch" another car, you dont cruch/lose a part and lose the race immediately.
-you race bump to bump, which is more exciting.
-you can over/understeer and still be in control and more importantly, powerslide!

EA getting the license rights confirmed! =/

@KroKan:

That doesn't mean F1 is boring. It just means you don't like it and find it boring.

Codies will never pay that much for a license.. didnt they ditch the BTCC and license for the same reason? Perhaps governing bodies will realise which side their bread is buttered one day and not charge for licenses but open them to competition (with maybe a nominal fee charged to the winning developer for any costs of checking the game complies with their guidelines etc).

@will: Well, since Schumacher is gone the whole F1 has become more interessting, at least to me and the race in Monaco is at least one Grand Prix I have to see every year. I'd be great if someone else would pick up the license and would make a multi plattform game out of it, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

I hope this is true. I was always disappointed by the fact it was Sony exclusive (and i do have their consoles).

Although not EA please.

Anyone know if the Forza devs are owned by MS? I think they could have a good crack at it.

What does this mean for that possibly Polyphony-developed F1 game?

@Bon5ai: "Forza and PGR are terrible as hell, bottom line."

For starters, your opinion != fact, and I personally think that PGR AND Forza were more entertaining than the garbage F1 game out on the PS3.

Secondly, how much time have you spent with each game to come to this conclusion.

Would have sold better multiplatform anyways

Complete rip-off

@Bon5ai: Far better than anything that could be made by the retard fest companies that make 360 Racing games

You gotta cut down on that. It'll get you banned in no time. And you're wrong as well. I have a PS3 and think it's the best hardware (not software library, pure hardware) on the market but PGR is awesome and I didn't think Forza was shit. Show some maturity man. I played the hell out of PGR3 with a friend online and offline.

@rotcepsurt: Agreed. The F1 game was a tech demo and the most fun I had with it was crashing my vehicle and seeing parts fly off it.

I agree that F1 games have been a bit shit, but I'm a simply hopeless F1 nutjob. Making the last one a Playstation exclusive can't have helped sales either. Hopefully EA or Codemasters can give something at least half decent, and across all the platforms. 360 in particular.

ahaha, i like that you used a pic of a Super Aguri to represent a story about something being abandoned, very fitting indeed sir.

1simbin - 2codemasters or 3EA must take this liscence. And by thwe way, having constant f1 games every years doesn't bother me but the price. If a game is design to be updated every years then make it less expensive or make an alternative microtransaction Downloadable content.
That's my opinion

The F1 PS3 title was beautiful looking, but it suffered from being extremely difficult. If it had appealed to a more casual audience as well it may have done better. My guess is that the average race gamer picked it up, broke an axle on turn one, and took it back.

Codemasters is the natural fit, with possibly a tweaked DiRT engine (tighter handling), but other than that, who would be the right developer. Certainly not EA, burnout with F1 cars, no thank you.

EA actually did a great job the last time they had the F1 License. F1 Challenege 99-02 rocked! rFactor + Mods is the only way to go to get a proper F1 game.

Well, someone's gotta pickup Bernie's S&M hooker tab.

@FlyLikeAMouse: Hahaha, my thoughts exactly. Luke really posted a very fitting picture.

For a start, Forumla one bosses are fuckin morons for letting Sony have the license in the first place, great way to limit exposure to your fanbase; have it only on one console, and a crappy overpriced one at that.

Anyone who wants maximum exposure for their brand needs it on all formats, more gameplayers = more viewers = more add revenue.

Whoever at F1 made the deal with sony in the first place should be fired, effin clueless and the sole reason we haven't had a decent F1 game in years.

I love how you guys have already decided who is getting the license ;)

lol@Jiggly poofs

Ok aside for the PS3 version you have to remember that prior to that it was on PS2 which had the most console exposure. So stop being short sighted they did say the license was 2003 -2007.

@Woylez: "Bernies a moron."

Couldn't agree with you more.

I thought the ps3 game was pretty good, especially since I was able to grab it being blown out at Target for 15 bucks.

I am not surprised at the reactions of gamers to F1 games, or even NASCAR games for that matter...they are always going to simulate the technical aspects of the sport they represent, and that makes them seem too hard or complicated to most gamers. These games must sell well in Europe, right?

I hope someone good picks it up. Sony have not really done a good one in years.

@jigglypoofs: Maximum exposure didn't include the PS2?
Of course Sony would ditch the license after seeing poor results on the PS3. If a game can't make enough revenue to justify 75 million dollars, it would be bad business to stay in contract any longer.

@Zeuxis: it was for THQ (WWE Smackdown)

Even though I'm guessing it was unintentional, you couldn't have picked a more apt photo.

Poor Super Aguri...

F1 Championship Edition is a FANTASTIC game. I've played them all, and no other game make you feel like you are in an F1 race better than that one. That said, it is not perfect. The game REALLY needed friends leagues that you could take through a whole season, and the option of the Safety Car. it would have been totally doable, and would have essentially completed the experience. I am also VER