RED BULL AIR RACE – THE GAME TAKES OFF FOR FREE IN 2016
Wing Racers Sports Games and Slightly Mad Studios charge no landing fee for the official PC game of the Red Bull Air World Championship
LONDON – April 1, 2016 – It’s the news that all aficianados of adrenaline-drenched, hyper-accurate racing have been waiting for: Wing Racers Sports Games are partnering with Slightly Mad Studios to deliver the world’s fastest motorsport direct to PCs this year with Red Bull Air Race – The Game. Hot on the heels of the million-selling and critically acclaimed Project CARS, they’re delivering a best-in-class and incredibly realistic take on Red Bull’s thrilling Air Race Championship. Initially launching as a limited beta on PC in the first half of 2016, the game’s doing something a little different in the free-to-play space. Instead of asking players to be whales, it’s partnering with some of the world’s biggest and best-known brands to deliver a new take on free-to-play gaming. The downloadable title will explicitly distance itself from finance models that suck all the fun out of gaming and, instead of annoying gamers with a pay-to-win scheme, will present spectacular challenges without any gameplay limitations whatsoever.
Compared to many other free-to-play games, Red Bull Air Race – The Game will not gate its content in a way that allows only the highest paying customers to have all the fun. “Right from the start, we developed this project as a cooperative effort with interesting sponsors. As such, it will benefit from the immense draw of the official license and from our versatility to integrate marketing partners,” said Jens Ott, Managing Director at Wing Racers Sports Games. “We’re incredibly excited to be working with Red Bull on this amazing opportunity. We’ve identified a unique business model that’s a win for all involved: fantastic exposure for some of the world’s greatest brands, authentic and ever-changing track dressing just like in real-life motorsports, and a move away from free-to-play’s traditional nickel-and-diming for the players.”
Erich Wolf, Red Bull Air Race General Manager, said, “We are absolutely sure that Esport fans will enjoy the features of our game. It is a fantastic way to bring our sport closer to everybody who doesn’t sit in a race plane every day.”
Red Bull Air Race – The Game will undergo a staged roll-out later this year. Underpinned by Slightly Mad’s in-house Madness engine, the game benefits from support for scalability, bleeding-edge virtual reality and more. Strapping an Oculus Rift to one’s head and soaring across the skies of Chiba, Ascot or Spielberg is as close as it gets to the real thing and a truly unprecedented experience in gaming. To achieve maximum authenticity, all race tracks and pilots of the 2016 Red Bull Air World Championship will be included, as well.
For more information about Red Bull Air Race, please visit www.redbullairrace.com.
Watch Hannes Arch (World champion, 2008 Red Bull Air Race World Championship, Vice World Champion 2009, 2010 and 2014) talking about his career and the new game: https://youtu.be/Akgfj6Y_6Dw.
ABOUT THE RED BULL AIR RACE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Created in 2003, officially the World Championship of air racing since 2005, the Red Bull Air Race is followed by millions of fans worldwide. The ultimate motorsport series in the skies features 14 of the best race pilots in a pure motor-sport competition that combines speed, precision and skill. Using the fastest, most agile and lightweight racing planes, pilots navigate a low-level aerial track made up of air-filled pylons 25 meters high. New since 2014 is the Challenger Cup, a competition which enables talented pilots to work towards acquiring entry into the Master Class of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship.
ABOUT SLIGHTLY MAD STUDIOS
Founded in 2009, Slightly Mad Studios is a multi-award-winning studio with a heritage and pedigree in the creation of some of the world’s most memorable and successful racing franchises, including GTR, GT Legends, BMW M3 Challenge, Need For Speed, Test Drive and Project Cars.
