There’s a new rumor that Ubisoft has renamed their tentative sequel The Crew 3 to The Crew Motorfest.
Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming shared a leaked screenshot of the tentative title, and revealed that they also saw private pictures of the logo, used in the game in places like electronic billboards and license plates.
This follows a reevaluation of the project and its continuing evolution. Originally intended to be DLC for The Crew 2, it was spun off to be its own game, as the developers continue to increase the project’s scope.
At this point, the game had been referred to by the internal codename Project Orlando. This name and these initial details were also leaked by Tom Henderson.
Tom says The Crew Motorfest is set in the Hawaiian island of Oahu. A new game engine will presumably raise the quality of the visuals from that of its predecessor, promising ocean blue waters alongside the island’s lengthy and mountainous roads.
It’s quite a trip for developer Ivory Tower, an Ubisoft subsidiary founded in 2008 by people who came from Eden Games, itself another European racing game studio. When Ivory Tower released the original The Crew with help from Ubisoft Reflections, it faced severe criticism from fans and critics alike. While the fans will remember the always online element the most, it actually had many issues, from glitches and technical issues, to the microtransaction model, to problems with the UI.
A decade later, Ivory Tower demonstrated they had learned their lessons with the release of The Crew 2 in 2018. This time, the racer is now a persistent open world, with a nonlinear storyline that gives players freedom to move around America and take on challenges and meet objectives in several hubs, giving players the freedom to play as they want. Going beyond the average racing sim, The Crew 2 also allowed you to ride bikes, boats, and planes, as you try to become the best racer across different disciplines.
While The Crew 2 received some award nominations, Ubisoft was not entirely happy with it. In spite of the improvements from the original, it still received a mixed critical reception, and with The Crew Motorsport, Ivory Tower seems determined to reboot the game again.
While it is possible that The Crew Motorsport won’t be replicating The Crew 2’s multi-disciplinary racing design, fans can look forward to something else. Ivory Tower is rapidly evolving to a better racing developer. Whatever shortcomings The Crew 2 had, Ivory Tower found themselves supporting the game for the last five years. Ivory Tower has a following now, and their fans are eager to see what they have planned next.