Why a reboot of the MotorStorm series is hugely overdue

By now, you've probably heard the news that a reboot of the MotorStorm franchise could be on the cards. Sony is rumoured to want an in-house arcade racer to be released alongside Gran Turismo 7, and MotorStorm is one of the front-runners in this regard.

MotorStorm's star burned bright and hot, but not for a long time. So, what made the MotorStorm series special? And what would it look like on the PlayStation 5?

Muddy fun

Back in 2006, Sony needed an off-road racing title for their next console, the PlayStation 3. So, the Japanese giant invested in Evolution Studios, who up until that point, had created some of the early WRC games on PS2. The original MotorStorm game was then released as a launch title for the PlayStation 3 back in 2006.

MotorStorm was a raging success both critically and commercially, as it sold over 3.5 million units. That's not bad at all when you consider how few PS3 consoles were out there at the time.

The variety of vehicles you were able to race with was a big selling point. You'd often get a field made up of 4x4s, bikes, ATVs, trucks, muscle cars, and more. This only got crazier in the online multiplayer modes, which was just starting to takeoff on PS3.

One of the stand-out features of the game was its destructible environments. These would literally change the circuits lap after lap, making you act on instinct rather than learning how to drive the track. This was a novel concept, there weren't any series that had incorporated it prior and to this day, hardly any racing series have it.

The multi-class racing was handled perfectly, as slower vehicle types would often be able to access shortcuts that faster cars and bikes. It created a level playing field without the game resorting to gimmicks, something that shouldn't be underestimated.

Continued success

MotorStorm wasn't a one-hit wonder, far from it. The series was one of the most successful of the PS3 era, producing three more titles on the console with another spin-off game on the PSP and PS2. Pacific Rift was launched in 2008, a couple years after the original title.

Pacific Rift took track design to a whole new level, as Evolution made full use of the PS3's HD graphics. The original MotorStorm's circuits were made up of largely monotonous grey and brown desert circuits, but that all changed for the sequel. Pacific Rift had abundant plant-life and huge expanses of water, all of which were easy to cross using the new monster truck class of vehicles.

Despite it being released on the PS2 and PSP, Arctic Edge introduced snowy environments to the game. This was a revelation, as ice bridges crumbled under heavy vehicles, your horn could trigger avalanches and the drifting mechanics were even more fun on the ice. This was also where customisation got its start in the series.

Why did MotorStorm stop?

Something that's impressive about MotorStorm is that it consistently produced favourable review scores from both the players and critics. Apocalypse took the game's destructible environments to a whole new level and introduced an RPG-style story to the series, but it commercially flopped.

Why was this? Well, it was largely down to the game never being released in Japan, as there was a deadly earthquake there that same year. As Apocalypse's disaster scenarios included earthquakes, it would've been very bad timing and poor taste for this market.

In 2016, four years after the final MotorStorm game (RC, released for Vita), Sony closed down Evolution Studios in 2016 after Driveclub wasn't as big of a success as they hoped it would be.

Interestingly, Evolution Studios' remaining staff were later hired by Codemasters. So, we could see a new MotorStorm game developed by Codies. However, this is unlikely, as Sony will want to keep the game in-house and EA (Codemasters' parent company) wouldn't want to create a PlayStation-exclusive.

MotorStorm on next-gen

Before we describe what MotorStorm could be on next-gen, let's be clear about one thing. As cool as a remaster of one of the original games would be, we'd want Sony to create a brand new game from scratch.

Obviously, with this being a PS5 title, it will be able to run in full 4K and glorious 60 fps. We'd also want fully customisable vehicles, with us being to upgrade the engines, tyres, brakes etc... of our rides. This would be in addition to the cosmetic changes that should be able to be made.

It's multiplayer where this game could really shine though, as large lobbies with 16 or perhaps even 32 racers could compete against each other in epic races. These races would be brilliant if we had the destructible environments that we loved in Apocalypse.

We'd really like to see the new MotorStorm continue the trend of using real-world songs in its soundtrack. Sony can pick and choose some of the classics to include, while updating the playlist with new songs for the new generation of gamers.

From start to finish, the development cycle of a video game varies, but for a triple-A release like this, it'd be a minimum of two years. You might think that puts the potential release date as 2024, but it's not that simple. PlayStation have known about Gran Turismo 7 for years now, it's not something that has come out of the blue.

So, with that in mind, we could see the new MotorStorm title announced at E3 this Summer and be released as early as this Autumn. It's optimistic, but given Sony's interest in another racing series, it's also realistic.