PMR | Project Motor Racing Sees Another Wave of Layoffs, Including COO

• Straight4 Studios has been affected by a series of job cuts.
• COO Ryan Hoey is leaving the company after he and Ian Bell stepped down as managing directors of the parent company and its subsidiaries.
• Kevin Boland is taking over leadership and is focusing “fully and entirely on the continued development of PMR”.

The struggling racing simulation “Project Motor Racing” is facing further job cuts and continued uncertainty. The most prominent departure is Ryan Hoey, Chief Operating Officer of Straight4 Studios.

Hoey had held this position since January 2023. At the time, he founded the development studio together with Ian Bell to work on the then-still-in-development title “Project Motor Racing”. His departure follows a recent wave of job cuts at the UK-registered development studio.

The game got off to a difficult start. Relatively late in development, it was moved from Unreal Engine 5 to GIANTS Software's proprietary technology. Upon its release, the title was met with near-unanimous criticism: both the sim racing community and the specialist media were disappointed by the outdated graphics, insufficiently optimized performance, and unusual vehicle handling.

However, numerous updates and DLC packs were subsequently released, bringing improvements and helping to restore the reputation of both the game and the studio. In addition, the appointment of industry expert and vehicle physics specialist Aristotelis Vasilakos inspired confidence in PMR's future direction.

Ian Bell's resignation

In July of this year, it became known that Ian Bell, an industry figure known for being a contrarian, had been replaced as CEO of Straight4 by Chief Development Officer Kevin Boland. Bell apparently denied this in a series of social media posts in his characteristically humorous manner.

Meanwhile, both Ian Bell and Ryan Hoey have stepped down from their positions at Straight4 Studios Limited, Straight4 Development Limited, and the overarching Straight4 parent company. In all three cases, Boland has taken over leadership.

Bell had repeatedly announced that he wanted to retire. However, a recent comment about a sequel to his 2005 title “GT Legends”, developed together with SimBin, suggested that he may want to remain connected to the industry.

The Northern Irishman still enjoys a high level of respect due to the undisputed success of “GT Legends”, “GTR 2”, and the first two “Project CARS” games. However, since he was most recently responsible for the poorly received titles “Project Motor Racing”, “Fast & Furious Crossroads”, and “Project CARS 3” — the latter two as CEO of Slightly Mad Studios — his reputation within the sim racing community may have suffered recently.

Further job cuts at Straight4

The changes at the top of Straight4 have partially distracted from the more extensive job cuts within the company. In addition to a series of layoffs following the release, several key employees have left the developer in recent weeks — some as a result of termination by the company, and some by resigning themselves.

According to public posts on LinkedIn, the positions affected include, among others, Scrum Master or producer, Principal Artist, Senior Vehicle Artist, Principal Audio Engineer, and the heads of marketing, content creation, and public relations.

“We are restructuring the company. This means that some colleagues will be leaving the company,” Boland explained in a statement.

“These decisions are difficult, and I am grateful to those leaving the company for their work and dedication. The restructuring is intended to create the right organizational structure for the long term.”

Development of “Project Motor Racing” will continue

Despite the job cuts, Boland assured PMR fans that development of the game would continue.

“We remain fully and entirely focused on continuing to develop PMR, building on the improvements made so far and continuing to move the game forward,” Boland explained.

“Our commitment to PMR and its players has not changed,” he concluded.