Renowned leaker and dataminer billbill-kun has shared the release date of WRC 23. The game is set to be available on July 28th for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X. According to billbill-kun, customers will be able to choose between the Standard and Champions editions, with the latter providing access to the first five Seasons of content. Moreover, a three-month subscription to WRC+ (the official streaming channel of the real-life sport) should be included either as a pre-order bonus or in the Champions edition.
This will be the first rally game since the WRC license switched hands. The latest seven games were all made by Paris-based game development studio Kylotonn and published by Bigben Interactive/Nacon.
However, Electronic Arts has acquired the 2023-2027 license in 2020, and Codemasters (itself purchased by EA for $1.2 billion) is leading development on WRC 23. According to Tom Henderson, the new game has been built on the ashes of the next installment in the Dirt Rally franchise, which was canceled once EA learned it would have access to the WRC license. As such, it is expected to be very similar to a Dirt Rally 3.0.
The report also says the game will feature sixteen car classes. This information builds upon the previous report that WRC 23 would allow players to create their own cars, from the engine to the radiator, suspension, brakes, and much more.
If the release date leak from billbill-kun is correct, the game is only two months away. It stands to reason that EA and Codemasters will want to unveil it shortly, perhaps at the PlayStation Showcase scheduled to go live tomorrow at 1 PM Pacific Time.
