Cambridge video games doyen Frontier Developments plc is racing ever closer to unicorn status after clinching a ‘to die for’ deal to publish Formula 1® management games worldwide for the hallowed motorsport championship.

The multi-year game licence with Formula 1® could be worth multimillions – a point that did not escape UK shareholders who filled their boots on the news: At one point after Tuesday’s announcement, the stock soared 186p, almost 17 per cent, to 1306 to haul the market cap past the $667 million mark.

Chief executive David Braben and his team were cock-a-hoop at the company’s Science Park headquarters when the F1 contract was unveiled. Frontier has exclusive rights to develop and publish F1 management games for PC and console platforms – together with the rights for streaming services – with the first launch off the starting grid for the 2022 F1 season. 

Releases will be worldwide and on multiple platforms.

This represents Frontier’s biggest ever game deal when one considers it has a licence for four games for seasons 2022 to 2025 in one of the biggest sports in the world.

Frontier has extensive experience of developing deeply engaging, high-fidelity simulation games which also achieve widespread global adoption. 
The partnership with F1 creates an exciting opportunity to bring together Frontier’s experience and capability, including its powerful and versatile Cobra game engine, to the management-rich environment of the globally popular and ever-changing world of F1.

Following the signing of the F1 Licence and the IP licence previously announced in March 2019, Frontier can now confirm that both of the major new internally developed releases in the financial year ending May 31, 2022 will benefit from major global IP licences.

Frontier has also confirmed the signing of another two Frontier Publishing deals, taking the number of signed deals to five for the company’s third party publishing initiative. 

A number of additional opportunities with carefully selected partners are in discussion and the company expects to start earning revenue in the next financial year.

David Braben said: “F1 is one of the most popular global sporting franchises in the world and we believe the combination of the F1 brand together with our extensive experience in management games will deliver fantastic game experiences to a wide and varied audience around the world.

“We have achieved great success with our own IP and are proven development and publishing partners for the highest profile third party IP. Both original and licensed IP will continue to be important as we grow and nurture our portfolio.”

Formula 1 bosses are equally thrilled. Frank Arthofer, director of Digital and Licensing at Formula 1, said: “Games are an important part of the F1 media ecosystem. This new manager franchise will allow fans to experience the challenging management aspects of the sport through immersive simulation games and make that experience as accessible as possible for a broad audience. 

“We have huge respect for Frontier and their achievements in the management simulation category, and are thrilled to be working with them for the 2022 season and beyond.”

This is a second quickfire deal for a Cambridge company in the world of Formula 1 following Darktrace’s cyber security contract with McLaren Racing, which Business Weekly announced recently.