Our Heritage
Founded in 2009, we’re the award-winning team behind the Project CARS franchise, and era-defining games such
as the GTR® series, Need For Speed® Shift™, Shift 2 Unleashed®, Red Bull Air Race – – The Game, and many
other top-tier games.
With over a decade’s worth of pedigree creating AAA-games, the studio is a 160+ strong group of
professionals working from either a central hub in London, offices in Singapore and Luxembourg, or worldwide via
a unique and award-winning distributed development system.
2021
Electronic Arts
18 February Electronic Arts, through its subsidiary Codex Games Limited, acquires Codemasters®
(incl. SMS) in a deal worth $1.2 billion. “This is the beginning of an exciting new era for
racing games and content as we bring together the talented teams at Electronic Arts and
Codemasters,” said EA CEO Andrew Wilson in a statement.
2020
Project CARS 3
Two weeks after Fast & Furious Crossroads, the studio does the impossible and releases its second
game of what is a frantically busy year—the third instalment in the Project CARS franchise
published by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. It once again wins gamescom’s Best Simulation Game
of the year and brings in a new era of customisation and car ownership to fans.
2020
Fast & Furious Crossroads
August 6th sees the release of Fast & Furious Crossroads, the official game of the Fast & Furious
franchise. Starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Sonequa Martin-Green, Asia
Kate Dillon, and Peter Stromare, this is a new chapter in the Fast & Furious saga exploding with
high-speed heists, cinematic nonstop action, and adrenaline-fueled stunts in exotic locations.
2019
Codemasters® acquires Slightly Mad Studios
On November 28, iconic British racing game developer and publisher, Codemasters® acquires
Slightly Mad Studios. Codemasters® CEO Frank Sagnier noted: “Codemasters’ acquisition of SMS
will create a global leader in the racing genre. Their focus on AAA quality and the passion that
they put into everything they create mirrors our own.” Ian Bell retains his position of Founder
and CEO of Slightly Mad Studios.
2017
Project CARS 2
installment of the Project CARS franchise wins the most prestigious award in gaming, gamescom’s
Best Simulation Game, and enjoys both critical and commercial success as it goes toe-to-toe with
the genre’s heavy-hitters.
2017
Red Bull Air Race – – The Game
Red Bull Air Race: The Game, published by Wingracers Sports Games GmbH & Co, is released in
early January. The game recreates the airborne motorsport series of the same name and
demonstrates the versality and high-fidelity of the MADNESS engine.
2015
Project CARS
After nearly four years in development, Slightly Mad Studios release Project CARS published by
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe S.A.S. The AAA-game is an instant success, selling over two
million copies worldwide and setting the stage for a successful franchise on the back of
unanimous praise from the gaming and motoring press. Project CARS is nominated for dozens of
Game of the Year awards, including the Jerry Goldsmith Awards 2015 for Stephen Baysted (Best
Original Score for a Videogame), and winner of the NAVGTR Awards 2016. The success fuels the
release of a Game of the Year Edition.
2012
The Walking Dead: Assault
The Walking Dead: Assault, published by Skybound LLC for Android and iOS.
2012
Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends
Studios release Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends published by Rombax Games in late 2011, a
game that features over 50 Ferrari cars from this world-leading automotive brand.
2011
SKID Racer
In late December 2011, Gamagio releases its first game—SKID Racer—with a tagline that reads,
“Driving the way forward in Browser Gaming!”.
The game is a browser-based arcade fun racer
built around HTML5 and WebGL that brought console-quality graphics to gamers using their
browsers both on PC and Mac. With SKID Racer, the studio demonstrates its capabilities of
creating both high-quality gaming and stunning visuals on browsers, a rare combination that
proved the resilience of the MADNESS engine on the Web.
2011
Shift 2: Unleashed
In early spring, Shift 2: Unleashed, the follow-up to 2009’s Shift and again published by
Electronic Arts Inc., is released. Slightly Mad Studios’ most visceral game yet, Shift 2
introduces the motif of the racing driver’s helmet-cam from where the player can truly
experience the physicality and brutality of motorsport as it has never been captured before.
2011
World of Mass Development
After three years of development, CEO Ian Bell announces, in late 2011, a revolutionary and
proprietary platform named World of Mass Development (WMD) that will fund a Slightly Mad
Studios-developed game titled Project CARS. “It’s nothing less than a revolutionary new approach
to game development and funding which allows us to make the game we want, without undue
publisher pressure,” Bell tells the media. “The concept of WMD allows us to submit design ideas
to an active gaming community, raise the funds needed to develop them, and get continual
feedback from community team members that test work-in-progress builds.”
2011
Gamagio
In March 2011, Ian Bell establishes the Gamagio Division at Slightly Mad Studios, to develop
mobile, social, and browser-based games.
2010
Develop 100
for 2010.
2009
Need for Speed: Shift
Slightly Mad Studios, entrusted to breathe new life into Electronic Arts, Inc.’s ailing Need For
Speed franchise, release Need for Speed: Shift in the fall of 2009. It rakes in top reviews,
quickly becoming one of the highest rated games in the franchise’s 20-year history and ends the
year as IGN’s Best PS3 Racing Game for both Editors and Readers.
2009
Slightly Mad Studios
In January, Slightly Mad Studios Ltd., founded by Ian Bell, and with most of the core development
team from Blimey!Games intact, purchases the business and assets of Blimey!Games Ltd.
2008
Blimey! Games
Following the insolvency of 10tacle studios AG, then-parent company of Blimey!Studios Ltd,
Blimey!Games closes its offices.
2006
GTR 2
GTR 2: FIA GT Racing Game, the much-anticipated sequel to GTR, is published in the fall of 2006
by 10tacle studios AG, Viva Media, LLC. It rockets up the best-seller chart on the back of
stellar reviews and word-o-mouth. By the end of the year, GTR 2 has claimed dozens of awards
including “4Players” Best PC Game of the Year, and GameStar’s Best PC Sports Game of 2006. GTR
2, like GT Legends, earns a place in “1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die” edited by
Tony Mott, and confirms Ian Bell’s team as one of the world’s top developers of simulation
games.
2006
Blimey!Games
In early February, Blimey!Games is acquired by 10tacle studios AG.
2005
GT Legends
GT Legends is released in February of 2006 to universal acclaim. With a spellbinding list of
classic GT racing machinery, iconic graphics and artwork, and near-faultless handling, GT
Legends has gone down into legend as one of the seminal PC-based games in history, earning a
slot in the book “1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die” edited by Tony Mott. Its
success paves the way forward for the young studio.
2005
Blimey!Games
In May of 2005, Ian Bell founds Blimey!Games in London with the core of developers who had worked
on GTR: FIA GT Racing Game.
2004
GTR
LLC. With much of the team that remains in place to this day, and under the leadership of Ian
Bell, GTR is released to unanimous praise from critics and players alike, winning the Best
Racing Game of the Year award from the prestigious “4players” online magazine. With a tagline
“GET REAL”, GTR puts in place the foundations that remain core principles to this day:
hyper-real physics validated by real drivers, emotive graphics, and inspiring venues.
2002
GTR2002 mod
A core group of passionate motorsport aficionados get together online determined to create the kind
of motorsport simulation they believe is missing from the market. Working in their spare time from
home, this group of “modders”, going by the name SimBin, create the GTR2002 mod (based off EA’s “F1
2002” game). The mod is a massive hit. With Ian Bell at the helm steering a core group of developers
(most of whom are still with the company to this day), the studio now known as Slightly Mad Studios
is off to the races.