F1 Manager 2022 devs backtrack after infuriating fans with a "final update" just two months after launch
Fans are less than pleased with the end of major support to F1 Manager
Frontier Developments has announced that it's ending major gameplay updates for F1 Manager 2022 less than two months after launch, but after a swiftly negative response from fans, the studio's messaging has softened.
On October 27, a Frontier representative made a post titled "News on Next Update and the Future of F1 Manager" on the game's official subreddit. According to the post, "this next update for F1 Manager 2022 will be the last significant update that addresses player-reported feedback, or suggested changes and additions. Any potential updates following this would be minor patches that do not noticeably affect gameplay."
The devs said that "to ensure upcoming F1 Manager projects realise their potential and meet the expectations of both our team and our community, the development team’s focus must move fully onto projects beyond F1 Manager 2022." The post also describes the last big patch as the game's "final update."
Response from fans was unenthusiastic, to say the least. Posts with titles like "never buy another Frontier game ever again," "this company is a laughing stock, and "a disgusting decision by Frontier" are filling the subreddit now, and the game's Steam page is quickly being flooded with negative reviews referencing the news.
Today, Frontier has made a new post that makes an attempt at "clarifying yesterday's news". As in the previous post, the developers say that major gameplay updates are ending while minor patches will continue. "To be crystal clear," the devs say, "we will continue to support F1 Manager 2022, with multiple updates currently in the pipeline, focused on addressing the most important topics raised by the community."
The devs are making some specific contradictions to previous statements, however. One of the big complaints players have had regards issues with cars not properly getting unlapped under the safety car. Yesterday, one member of the team said "we can now confirm that this will not be addressed further in F1 Manager 2022," because the fix "would require significant gameplay alterations that are just not within scope for this game."
Today, Frontier says the issue is "not considered a gameplay feature. It remains on our list of topics we're investigating for F1 Manager 2022. We'll continue to provide more specific details on what else we're working, as soon as it's confirmed."
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Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.
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