That is the point! Will rF2 keep its "spirit" in the future? This is a big company where only the fast dollar counts! Well, the future will tell.
Changing direction or "spirit" of rF2 (if that's even possible) would be a shot in the foot by any company that manages it. rF2 just need to improve and put everything together, people will come, that's for sure The reason i say this is because if you want a serious simulation, nothing comes close to rF2, it simply has no competitors, but if you want a more "friendly" experience, then you have plenty of offers...
Well, to put it in a little more detail, I hope the core of the team remains. Should it be replaced through and through and the team spirit and thus the spirit of the simulation be lost, that's it. MSG = Lots of money as soon as possible. See Ignition 21. How can something like this be published? I hope this mentality doesn't carry over to S397 in time. ...
Agree with you, rF2 needs passionate people for the simulation factor. Anyway i think MSG should put their ideas together and do things as they should be done, they've already shot one foot, if they shoot the other probably they won't be able to walk anymore...
To @Marcel Offermans I want to thank you very much for everything you did for this game, studio and sim racing in general. You contribution and efforts have not been properly recognized, especially by me. I guess I find myself in the position of once again realizing, what a good thing you have only once that has been lost. Hope to see you on track some day. I want to remind everyone what state we were in at the end of the ISI days. The ISI guys did not want to become the mext EA, Codemasters or Simbin/Slightly Mad. They had built a platform primarily aimed at modders, and not the right amount of financial "heft" it would take to get licenses for major content - car manufacturers, track owners, series. So Marcel, pretty much on his own I think, decided to buy out rF2 and rebuild it. And what a rebuild it was. He first had to get his employers, Luminis, to back what surely was a longshot, even if they saw potential in helping game studios build games and backend infrastructure for online. Really, they didn't want to be game developers or publishers either. But they backed Marcel with the acquisition, and funding of licenses and relationships to be built. We've now got cars from most major manufacturers, alliances with manufacturers (BMW/Porsche) and race car builders and teams (Norma, etc.). They built alliances with Formula E and WEC, run esports events, culminating in a massive Virtual Le Mans when the entire world was in lockdown due to the pandemic. He found relationships with Amazon to build console games, that eventually is leveraged into the acquisition by MSG. I mean, it would be enough just to run a development studio and write code for an app; but the list of things beyond that which have been achieved, is nothing short of incredible. There's probably only been a few individuals in sim racing who have achieved this much. So thanks, Marcel. As they said about Zaphod, "he's just this guy, you know?".
rF2 will only ever be part of someone’s career not their entire life and while completely understandable we shouldn’t feel we ever have a claim on someone else’s career. Good luck @Marcel Offermans in whatever the future brings. You never know if or when we will all be on another forum discussing the latest sim and reminiscing about the old times in rF2. Perhaps even with Marcel as a developer, perhaps even as a enthusiastic user Like the rest of us.
When I leave sim racing, I want to make a video like Marcel did, except it would be much shorter and involve a wall.
Just to set the record straight on this. Luminis is a company that is structured like a group of independent cells, each of which is typically around 30 people big. These cells all have their own business plans and need to be profitable. Typical cells operate in a certain region in or around the Netherlands and focus on providing all kinds of IT consultancy, projects, R&D support, etc. When I founded Studio, it was also such a cell. Obviously a bit of an odd one in the sense of its goals, but nevertheless we had to play by the same rules. Before that happened I was leading another of such cells (Luminis Technologies) and for a short while I was doing both, but as soon as Studio 397 took off, I was exclusively doing that and employed by that cell. Fast forward to the acquisition, Luminis sold all the shares of Studio 397 to Motorsport Games (a transaction that is publicly documented) and I signed a new employment contract as I at that point obviously had no ties anymore with Luminis. So I moved with Studio 397. And in general, thanks everybody for the heartwarming responses. And the honest feedback. I never shied away from that and I am sure I have made many mistakes along the way. See you all on a virtual track somewhere!
I'm trying the new update and the new contents, and I must say that RF2 is reaching very high levels, FF the best ever, AUDIO engine to be optimized and made available for all cars, but really well done, optimized and improved graphics, everything is improving more and more !, now I'm afraid that after the goodbye of the good MARCEL, something will change for the worse, let's hope not, long live RF2!
@Marcel Offermans Thankyou for your knowledge, passion and direction you gave to RF2. So much positive happened with you at the helm. Happy travels and expecting to see you on the track.
Marcel will never leave, ever. Thanks Dude. Your the Man. Really appreciate what you have done my Man I really do. What you have done for this sim is pure passion, we all love you. Be lucky Marrs.
@Marcel Offermans Since it's your last official day at S397, I wish you all the best! Maybe Sector3/KW Studios is clever enough to convince you! There is so much potential there. Would be nice to see you working somewhere else. Let's see what will become of your foster child rF2 under MSG.. Again, respect for what has been created here! And a sincere thank you from me, someone who loves and appreciates true SimRacing. Don't stop!
Thank you @memoNo1 and everybody else who responded here and elsewhere. I'm going to take some time to relax and consider my next move as well as to meet up with a lot of people who have reached out in the last month or so. In any case I hope to meet you all on a virtual track somewhere around the world!
