Frontier Developments—the studio behind Planet Coaster and Elite—has just announced a multi-year game licence with Formula 1.
The licence gives the studio exclusive rights to develop management games using the F1 brand. Four games are currently planned, with the first slated for release during the 2022 F1 season.
Frontier is best known for its management and simulation games, such as Planet Coaster and Jurassic World Evolution. Its latest, Planet Zoo, puts you in charge of taking care of zoos full of animals with sometimes brutal consequences. As Chris noted in his Planet Zoo review, "[it] isn't just a management sim, it's a survival game."
Jurassic World Evolution had its velociraptor attacks, Planet Zoo had its depressed pandas—one of Frontier's greatest strengths is its ability to throw unexpected elements into its management games. It's unlikely this we'll see a dino stampede on the Red Bull Ring, but it's not unreasonable to expect some creative surprises.
Formula 1 might seem a bit impenetrable if you've never watched a race, but F1 director of digital and licensing Frank Arthofer said that the new management series would be "as accessible as possible for a broad audience." Frontier's other management games are pretty easy to pick up, so hopefully it will be the same case here.
Frontier also announced that they have signed two more third-party publishing deals to their new label, Frontier Publishing, which launched in June 2019.
