Opinion
"Anthem" is history, but it could have been so good
by Philipp Rüegg
Motorsport Manager: how Sega left a genre cornerstone to rot for 9 years
16.2.2026
Translation: Katherine Martin
After a nine-year standstill, an out-of-the-blue update has resurrected Motorsport Manager. Not thanks to Sega, but despite it. It may be a small patch, but the symbolic power of the gesture is huge for the games industry as a whole.
A game that was declared dead in 2017 has suddenly received a patch. Sound unspectacular? Well, it isn’t. You see, Motorsport Manager didn’t fail as a result of bugs or a lack of interest. In fact, it was abandoned by its own publisher.
When Playsport Games released its race management game in November 2016, the impact was undeniable. Critics praised its depth, and players loved it. Even today, 91 per cent of the game’s 11,000 Steam reviews are positive, netting it a «very positive» overall rating.
The game set a new standard, demonstrating what strategic depth, political team dynamics and an obsession with technical detail could look like in a motorsport management game. Games such as the F1 Manager series would later benefit from that groundwork.
Motorsport Manager wasn’t a niche product – it quietly influenced an entire subgenre.
While other studios forged franchises out of these successes, Sega did nothing. For nine years. No updates, no DLC, no communication. The last time the game officially showed any sign of life was in 2017.
And now, in early 2026, Patch 1.6 is heading our way. It’s the first update in almost a decade. Now that Playsport Games has got the rights back from Sega, it’s delivering some long overdue tweaks – fixing boot problems, correcting minimap errors and refreshing the UI. Technical basics that’ll work wonders for the community. A small patch, but a major signal that says, «We’re back. And we want more».
Sega never understood the game
The crux of the issue is that Playsport had to win back the rights in the first place. It demonstrates that publishers can own influential games without realising their value. Sega left Motorsport Manager to gather dust, leaving its chance at becoming a real franchise to wither along with it.
Source: Playsport Games
It’s worth bearing in mind that this was the blueprint for contemporary race management games. The foundation other games in the genre were built on. And Sega cast it aside for nine years, as if it were a failed experiment.
It was the community that kept the game alive. Modders developed new racing series, enhanced driver logic and overhauled the gameplay. They did what Sega should’ve done – and didn’t even get support for it. The tragic irony here is that the upcoming Unity update might break some of these mods. As Playsport itself has warned, the real custodians of the game now have to revisit their work.
What happens when developers are finally back in the driver’s seat
Good news, we’ve got the rights to Motorsport Manager back from Sega!
This quote from Playsport’s announcement sounds not just relieved, but liberated. And the first thing the studio does? Release a free update. No DLC, no microtransactions, no monetisation of a revival.
In an industry that turns every hint of nostalgia into a business model, this is a rare thing. But it’s also a statement. The people behind the game see their work not as an asset portfolio, but as a creative legacy. The fact they’ve had to wait nine years to do so is an indictment of Sega.
A bad omen pointing to the powerlessness of small studios
Motorsport Manager could’ve been a direct competitor of today’s F1 Managers. The game was worthy of sequels, expansions and maybe even official licensing agreements. Instead, a decade slipped away because a major publisher held control over the game and did nothing with it.
The problem was never about quality. It was about responsibility.
Small studios can make brilliant games. But as soon as the rights are held by a company that doesn’t understand them, they become archive material. Motorsport Manager isn’t an isolated case – it’s a pattern. And that pattern reveals how fragile creative visions are when they end up in the wrong hands.
Source: Playsport Games
This update says more than many new announcements
On the technical side of things, Patch 1.6 is small. It involves a few fixes, an engine update and some UI polish. But on a symbolical level, it’s massive.
It demonstrates that studios can save classic games – as long as they’re allowed to. Plus, it represents a stand against some publishers’ throwaway mentality. And proves that community-driven games last longer than any market window.
I don’t know whether there’ll be a Motorsport Manager 2. However, my sudden urge to play the game again after all these years shows that, sometimes, a small signal is enough to reawaken an old passion.
Source: Playsport Games
Even if that turns out not to be the case, this minor update says more about the games industry than many a polished appearance at previous E3 shows. Good games don’t die – as long as their creators aren’t prevented from saving them.
Header image: Playsport Games
My interests are varied, I just like to enjoy life. Always on the lookout for news about darts, gaming, films and series.
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