In a statement, the union has said that Nacon’s leadership had a disdain for video game production, which worked alongside their “incompetence” to “actively sabotage” its studios.

“Years of mismanagement and strategic nothingness, both at the group and company levels, have blocked studios from modernizing, organizing and developing themselves,” said the union. “Today, even after completely emptying its studios’ coffers – dozens of millions of euros which should have ensured studio stability and safe jobs! – Nacon comes out with a deficit.”

“Makeshift solutions like canceling all recruitments and raises for more than a year, or snake oil solutions like ‘AI,’ which Nacon is gradually forcing on its studios without even knowing what for, will not save money and clean up the company accounts. The deterioration of working conditions in the last years, and the creation of new studios with the barely hidden goal of sabotaging existing ones, were already convoluted ways of reducing headcount, and they only made matters worse.”

Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Video has gone on to call for the removal of Nacon’s executive team. Along with this, the union also wants better working conditions, updated tools and processes, and a policy to prevent further talent drain across studios under the company that would involve fighting turnover rates.

Nacon had announced its filing for insolvency back in February, which happened due to the majority shareholder Bigben Interactive being unable to make a partial repayment of its bond loan. The shareholder blamed “unexpected and late refusal” from its banking pool. In its filing, the company requested a “rapid implementation of a financial restructuring” that goes beyond simply restructuring debt under court supervision.

A report from earlier this week had indicated that Nacon had paused payments to employees at Cyanide Studios, Spiders and Kylotonn. At the time, an estimated 320 game developers were affected by this lack of payments, with the three studios becoming part of the publisher’s court-ordered restructuring. In its more recent press release, Nacon has outright confirmed that four of its subsidiaries – Spiders, Kylotonn, Cyanide and motion capture company Nacon Tech – had filed for insolvency with the Lille Métropole Commercial Court. More details are slated to be revealed as proceedings continue.

The insolvency comes in the light of Nacon having suffered major failed game releases under its belt, including 2023’s The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The company has also acquired several studios, including Neopica, Midgar Studio, Ishtar Games, and Big Ant Studios, among others. Along with Gollum, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown also saw an underwhelming reception, which likely contributed to the company’s current financial position.

That’s not to say that Nacon hasn’t published well-liked games, however. We recently saw the release of GreedFall: The Dying Light, as well as 2024’s co-op hack-and-slash roguelite title Ravenswatch.

Nacon’s original filing occurred after the majority shareholder, Bigben Interactive, failed to make a partial repayment of its bond loan to bondholders. The shareholder laid the blame on an “unexpected and late refusal” by its banking pool, which in turn has also affected its own operations. Nacon has requested a “rapid implementation of financial restructuring” to survive. Previous considerations of debt restructuring under court supervision fell apart because the company lacked enough available assets that could be sold to pay off its debts in time.

The insolvency filing involved the company requesting a judicial reorganization to assess potential solutions that could lead to Nacon’s survival “under the best possible conditions.” This means protecting its employees, preserving jobs, and renegotiating with creditors. The hearing took place earlier this month.

The publisher had also decided to push back its planned Nacon Connect showcase, which was originally slated for March 4th. Citing a “difficult economic environment,” the company has postponed the event to May so that the company can “ensure that our future announcements have the impact they deserve.”

“Faced with a difficult economic environment for the company, we are choosing to focus our resources on upcoming releases and the development of our current games. This period will allow us to polish our projects and prepare for a new Nacon Connect to be held in May, which will showcase the work of our studios in the best possible way,” said the studio in its announcement.

The event was going to feature gameplay from a pair of cosmic horror titles: Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss and The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu. Along with this, a new action RPG dubbed Edge of Memories, as well as a new entry in the Endurance Motorsport Series by KT Racing, were also going to be part of the show.

GreedFall: The Dying World was its most recent release. The title spent significant time in Early Access on PC before its eventual 1.0 release, which also coincided with the launch of PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions. For more details, take a look at our review.

Earlier this month, Nacon, along with developer ACE Team, had also announced that co-op horror title The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is making its way to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on July 15th. This announcement came alongside a new trailer, which showcased gameplay as well as some of the title’s spookier elements, including hallucinations that players can suffer from.

INFO Origami – La série noire continue chez Nacon, dont les trois plus gros studios de développement en France – Cyanide, Spiders et Kylotonn – sont en cessation de paiement et ont été placés en redressement judiciaire.

— Gauthier 'Gautoz' Andres (@gautoz.cool) 2026-03-23T16:47:19.550Z

To commemorate the rally racing sim’s PC and console launch, Nacon has released a new trailer. Check it out below. WRC Generations brings a number of major additions to the table, from a new competitive-focused Leagues mode to the addition of hybrid cars.

In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 7/10, saying, “WRC Generations lacks the depth and polish of its simulation counterparts but still delivers a fun capstone to the several WRC games that lead up to it.” You can read the full review through here.

WRC Generations is, of course, the final officially licensed WRC title to be developed by Kylotonn and publisher by Nacon. Starting next year, the license will be held exclusively by EA and Codemasters. Reports have claimed that the first game under that partnership is facing development issues, but is still expected to launch sometime in 2023. Read more on that through here.

WRC Generations is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A Nintendo Switch version is also in development, but doesn’t currently have a release date.

Racing in WRC Generations feels about as good as the last couple of games, as the arcade-style approach from 5, 6, and 7 has found a much more satisfying middle ground with subsequent entries including this one. and if you’ve gotten used to that more recent mix, you’ll take right to it in this latest outing. Generations makes some slight adjustments while largely sticking to the formula. One of the adjustments in Generations certainly seems to be a more intuitive traction system, where the percentage of snow or rain on the ground and the type and placement of your tires is more important than ever before. Despite some muscle memory from racing on some of these tracks carrying over, this new degree of sensitivity will shake things up. Whether that is a good or bad development for the series will largely depend on your tastes, but I ended up going back and forth on it a bit personally.

"Despite some muscle memory from racing on some of these tracks carrying over, this new degree of sensitivity will shake things up. Whether that is a good or bad development for the series will largely depend on your tastes, but I ended up going back and forth on it a bit personally."

On one hand, the more pronounced control I had over how much I want to slide or stick to the ground certainly adds depth, but on the other, you can end up being punished greatly for even small miscalculations, which, to me, is counter to the kinetic soul of the racing in the series which has always rewarded its players most during races and for making the correct choices on the track, not so much for spending copious amounts of time in preparation menus making sure everything is perfectly tuned for the upcoming event. Still yet, the three primary difficulty settings and handful of other game-wide modifiers can alleviate this quite a bit, but in doing so, WRC Generations makes a common mistake among modern legacy racing game franchises by trading in a bit too much of its own identity in exchange for being a more well-rounded game.  As so often happens when this path is taken, the game clearly tries to please a larger audience at the potential expense of those who have supported the series up to this point. It’s not enough to drag the entire experience down by any means, but it is a small thorn in the side of an otherwise reliably competent racing experience.

Other small thorns include some stability issues that lead to me having a few hard crashes at seemingly random points in the game. No one occasion seemed particularly hectic or intense to me, so these crashes were a complete surprise and perhaps that makes them even more worrisome. Another issue that continues to linger in the WRC series is the lack of meaningful difference between too many of the vehicles. While the selection of cars is large in number, and the different classes do vary pretty well, too many of them are just too similar to really make you look forward to experimenting within whatever class of vehicle fits the event you’re in best.

All that said, most of the fundamentals that have been routinely polished with every entry have continued to improve in this one. The vast and beautiful environments are better than they’ve ever been with enhanced weather effects and denser flora, the pronounced differences in track type from pavement to gravel to dirt all hit better than ever with the PS5’s DualSense making you feel every pebble and speck of dirt getting kicked up, and the well-designed pace notes that keep you informed about what to expect with peripheral info that doesn’t make you take your eyes off the road like a minimap would.

These things quickly become the bedrock of WRC Generations and it’s good to see them in excellent shape here, although the DualSense sounds blaring out of the speaker might be a little too pronounced on their default setting for my taste. Still, with all of that, on top of the series’ best iteration of crew management, livery editor, and tech upgrade trees ever, we see a compelling package take shape for those that click with the slightly floaty but still somewhat realistic WRC-style of racing. And despite the hard crashes, I generally encountered very little frame rate drops or any other sort of visual oddity.

"While the selection of cars is large in number, and the different classes do vary pretty well, too many of them are just too similar to really make you look forward to experimenting within whatever class of vehicle fits the event you’re in best."

For the most part, WRC Generations seems to round out the ups and downs of the previous few games with an arguably ideal combination of what worked best in recent installments. While I wish it went further than surface level with its upgrades, it has by no means phoned in this entry. Its gameplay is just deep enough for big-time enthusiasts to justify spending dozens of hours in, while its learning curve is just shallow enough for more casual or arcade style racing fans to get plenty of enjoyment out of it too.

While it does ultimately pay the price of probably not wow-ing most people in either camp, it does handle the task of maximizing the knowledge the developer has clearly gained from the past few games while minimizing the price paid for the few wrinkles they were never quite able to totally iron out. Had the stability and variety been stepped up just a bit more, it would be a stronger recommendation, but as it is, I certainly wouldn’t ward you off if WRC Generations is something that you’re interested in. If you’re familiar with the series and generally know what to expect, then this is arguably the apex of the series up to this point but even if you’re new to the series, I still think there’s plenty of reason to give it a shot with some moderated expectations.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

RALLIES

Obviously, WRC 10 is going to include rallies from the new WRC season, which means that new rallies are also going to be included in the game. Of the twelve rounds of the season in the game, four of them are new rallies, namely the Croatia Rally, Rally Estonia, the Rally de Catalunya in Spain, and the Ypres Rally in Belgium.

HISTORY MODE

WRC 10’s launch coincides with a monumental occasion for the sport itself, what with the World Rally Championship celebrating its 50th anniversary. The game itself is going to commemorate that in a number of ways, which includes a history mode. As its name suggests, this mode will include 19 iconic events from throughout WRC history for players to experience.

HISTORICAL RALLIES

Of course, with historic events being included in the game, you can also expect some classic rallies and cars to also be featured. Where the former is concerned, WRC 10 is going to include 6 classes rallies (in addition to the events from the 2021 season). Of these six, a few have already been confirmed so far, including the likes of the Acropolis Rally in Greece and Rally San Remo in Italy.

HISTORICAL CARS

What about classic cars though? WRC 10 is promising a pretty vast and robust roster of vehicles on offer, and of these, 20 of them are going to be legendary cars from across WRC history from the likes of Subaru, Mitsubushi, Alpine, Audio, Ford, Toyota, Lancia, and more. A few of the classic cars that have been confirmed so far are the Alpine A110, the Lancia Delta Group A, the Citroën Xsara WRC, and the Audi Quattro.

TEAMS AND STAGES

The WRC games always display a lot of love for the sport, which usually materializes as comprehensive authenticity. And in its bid to be the most comprehensive WRC experience on offer, this year’s game is going to have a total of 52 teams, pulled in from WRC, WRC2, WRC3 and Junior WRC. In addition, there are also going to be a total of 120 stages for players to race through.

CAREER MODE

The WRC games have consistently been improving their career mode offerings year over year, and WRC 10 is promising some interesting improvements as well. The highlighting addition in this year’s game is the new livery editor, which means players are now going to be able to create their own teams. You can now also apply your own colours to cars, while the career mode will also feature better progression, crew management, and more.

PHYSICS

Physics are supremely important in any game that’s claiming to be an authentic racing simulation experience, which, of course, applies to WRC 10 as well, which is promising to improve on the solid foundations of its predecessors in this area as well. Crucially, the game has new suspension and aero models, which will introduce some dynamism to how different cars behave on different surfaces and terrains, while turbo and braking systems have also received overhauls.

VISUALS

WRC as a series doesn’t come close to the likes of DiRT Rally, Gran Turismo, or Forza Motorsport when it comes to visuals and production qualities, but they haven’t been anything to scoff at either. With WRC 10, developer Kylotonn is continuing to make further improvements, which includes added detail to roads and surfaces, improved vegetation, and more. All in all, it looks like there’s going to be a greater level of detail in all the stages and cars, which sounds like an exciting improvement.

AUDIO DESIGN

Just as important as the visuals in a racing sim is the audio design, if not more, and WRC 10 is making some key improvements here as well. Specific details are unknown right now, but Kylotonn says the game’s audio has been completely reworked, with plenty of emphasis being put on ensuring that each car sounds meaningfully different from others. Given the series’ constant bid for greater immersion, improved audio should be a pretty big deal for WRC 10.

CHALLENGES

WRC 10 is going to have plenty of content to keep players busy, it seems, and while the likes of career mode, co-op, and online play are going to make up the lion’s share of your play time in the game, there’s other ancillary stuff on offer as well. Specifically, there will be daily, weekly, and special challenges for players to take on, so even if you’re looking to dive in for short, bite-sized sessions of gameplay, WRC 10 is still probably going to have you covered.

PRICE AND PRE-ORDER BONUS

WRC 10 is going to be a little costlier on new-gen consoles, which is a trend that a few games have been following these days. On PS4 and Xbox One, the standard edition will cost $49.99, while on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, it will be priced at $59.99. Meanwhile, if you pre-order the game, you’ll also get a couple of bonuses in the form of the 1997 Subaru Imprezza and an exclusive historic event.

DELUXE EDITION

There will, of course, also be a deluxe edition. In addition to the base game (both current and next-gen versions), the package will also include the aforementioned pre-order bonuses, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V, the Arena Panzerplatte SSS DLC, a career starter pack that includes 6 crew cards and livery graphics to get you started, and 48 hours of early access to the game.

PC REQUIREMENTS

If you’re planning on playing the game on PC, you’ll obviously be more concerned with its system requirements, which, thankfully, aren’t terrible demanding. Minimum requirements will require either an Intel Core i5-2300 or an AMD FX-6300 along with either a GeForce GT 1030 or AMD Radeon R7. Recommended settings, meanwhile, will need either an Intel Core i7-4790k or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 along with either a GeForce GTX 1070 or an AMD Radeon RX Vega 56.

SWITCH LAUNCH

WRC 10 is launching on September 2 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. A Nintendo Switch version of the game is also confirmed, but if you do plan on playing it on Nintendo’s hybrid, you’re going to have to wait a little longer. Nacon says that the Switch version is going to arrive a little later than the other systems, though an exact release date for it is currently unknown.

The WRC license might be shifting to Codemasters in a couple of years, but until then, developers Kylotonn have been doing great things with it. Their WRC games have been growing progressively better, to the extent that last year’s WRC 9 was a legitimately great rally racing sim. Now, as promised, publisher Nacon has officially unveiled WRC 10.

The reveal trailer itself is pretty brief, but the headlining additions for this year’s entry have been briefly detailed. WRC 10 will include four new 2021 rallies with Spain, Belgium, Estonia, and Croatia, while six historic rallies are also being introduced, including Germany, Acropolis, Argentina, and San Remo. The game will also feature 120 special tracks, 24 official licensed teams spanning the WRC, WRC2, WRC3, Junior WRC from the 2021 season, and 20 vehicles from Alpine, Audi, Lancia, Subaru, Ford, Mitsubishi, Toyota, and more. Meanwhile, Career Mode will also see new improvements, including the addition of a liveries editor.

WRC 10 launches for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store) on September 2.

Nacon will also be providing an update on Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown in the coming days, so stay tuned for that.

Nacon recently kicked off their “Nacon Racing Week”, promising news, updates, and announcements for several of their racing games, both existing ones and those that are launching in the coming months. After providing news updates on WRC 9 yesterday, today, the publisher is going to put the spotlight on its sequel, with a reveal trailer for WRC 10 confirmed to be coming very soon.

Nacon recently took to Twitter to confirm that the world premier trailer of WRC 10 will be shown off later today, a few hours from now, at 3 PM CET. Whether we’ll just be seeing a reveal trailer or if it will be a more substantial announcement with details on the game remains to be seen, but we’ll be covering it as it goes up, so stay tuned for that.

Meanwhile, Nacon Racing Week is also going to provide an update on Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown in the coming days, so there’s plenty more to look forward to for racing fans.

https://twitter.com/Nacon/status/1381902455005442050

Nacon has some new details for its current and upcoming racing titles to reveal as part of Nacon Racing Week. Over the next 10 days, it will provide news for WRC 9 along with its follow-up WRC 10. Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown and RiMS Racing are also set to receive new information.

WRC 9 released last year to decent critical acclaim (check out our review here) so there may be details on new content or paid expansions. Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown was unveiled in July 2020 and confirmed to focus on luxury cars while providing 1:1 recreations of islands to explore. It’s being developed Kylotonn which also handles the WRC series.

Meanwhile, RiMS Racing is a motorcycle sim racer which looks to offer a super-realistic experience and precise riding controls. Developed by Raceward Studio, it’s currently slated to release in Summer 2021 for the UK on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5 and PC. Stay tuned for more details and, hopefully, new gameplay for all of the above in the coming days.

Buckle up racing fans because we have some thrilling news over the next 10 days! #NaconRacingWeek pic.twitter.com/HxWFtPngtP

— Nacon (@Nacon) April 12, 2021

If you’re coming into this as a returning player, you may initially be disappointed by what you see. There’s very little that’s different, at least at first glance. The game’s interface is very similar to previous games. The structure, menus, and mechanics behind the career mode are similarly unchanged. While this does make it easy for returning fans to know exactly where to start, it’s more of an issue than anything else. The menus and interface have always been clunky, and WRC 9 is no exception. Navigating the menus for the career mode especially can be clunky and unintuitive, particularly if you’re playing on consoles like I was. The controls and interface never quite feel natural. It’s one thing to make incremental changes, but leaving the interface completely unchanged wasn’t the best call.

"It’s not perfect, and returning fans may find it plays things a bit too safe in some areas. But overall, WRC 9 is a solid entry in the series."

The game suffers some other issues on the technical front as well. Load times, at least on consoles, were a bit longer than I would have expected. It can definitely get a bit frustrating waiting through them, especially with the repetitive soundtrack. The music is generic, and doesn’t really seem to fit the atmosphere of the sport. This is a minor complaint, for sure, and you can mute the music if you want, so it isn’t really a big deal. But it doesn’t make those long load times any less irritating.

WRC 9 also has some other technical stumbles as well. For the most part, the visuals are solid. Cars look great both on and off the track. The lighting and weather effects are similarly solid. And the damage modeling for the cars is impressive. The environments also look good, especially when viewed from a distance. Up close, there are some hiccups, particularly regarding aliasing, but it’s nothing too major. It’s not gonna win any awards for its visuals, but they look nice and get the job done well enough. But where the issues really lie here is the audio. Beyond the aforementioned soundtrack, the sound design in general is lacking. Most of the cars sound identical to one another. The game’s audio mixing is also strange, with some sounds coming through far louder than they were likely intended to. At times the audio would even cut out on me altogether. This is especially true of the car audio. Engine and impact sounds would sometimes glitch and just not play. These issues aren’t game breaking, but they are strange, and they definitely bring the game down on a technical level.

But that’s not really the important thing here. What matters in a game like this is the driving. Thankfully in that regard, WRC 9 is a strong contender. The cars handle well, and the controls for driving are simple to pick up. The game does a great job of simulating all of the different factors and conditions that can affect your handling during a race. Different cars handle differently, as do different types of terrain. WRC 9 does a particularly great job here. The different environment, terrain, and weather effects are absolutely stellar, and they are simulated perfectly. Snow has no traction, and slipping and sliding is a regular occurrence. Mud and rain affect your grip, and it’s easy to get bogged down in thick mud if you aren’t careful. The game does a wonderful job handling the interactions between your car and the environment. Everything behaves in a realistic way, difficult to manage, but consistent in that difficulty. The physics are really top notch in this regard.

"What matters in a game like this is the driving. Thankfully in that regard, WRC 9 is a strong contender."

WRC 9 also does a good job of making the different cars feel distinct from one another. They all handle a little differently, with different acceleration, traction, weight, center of gravity, and a whole host of other factors. You can also tweak your cars, allowing you to further modify your car’s handling to suit your preferences and the needs of the track. The customization is as deep as you’d expect from a game like this, and it’s really well done.

WRC 9 isn’t hurting for content, either. Games like this can sometimes have a tendency to be a little light on things to do. Thankfully, WRC 9 has plenty to offer. The career mode is the meat of the game. It’s a strong experience. While in the career mode, you take on the role of both manager and driver. You set up your crew, hiring different specialists, making contracts, and setting up your event schedule. Then you hit the track. All of this is in the goal of moving up the standings to qualify in the titular WRC, the World Rally Championship. There’s a lot to keep track of, and it can be daunting for new players. But the game offers a surprisingly deep tutorial for first time players that explains the ins and outs of career mode. It still doesn’t quite help with the clunky interface, but it’s a big help regardless.

Aside from that, there’s the usual quick race options, where you pick a track and a car and immediately enter the competition. Season mode allows you to participate in a rally without having to worry about the crew management aspect of career mode. It’s a nice intermediate option between career mode and quick play. Challenges require you to complete certain objectives on a preselected track with a preselected car. Meanwhile, the multiplayer options come in both an online and split screen option. I will always praise the inclusion of split screen multiplayer in games these days. It’s a dying feature, but it’s always a welcome one. The online events serve as an online equivalent to the single player challenges. And finally, the esports mode allows you to challenge yourself and other players in a high stakes competitive environment. This mode even comes complete with its own rewards and unlockables.

"WRC 9 isn’t hurting for content, either. Games like this can sometimes have a tendency to be a little light on things to do. Thankfully, WRC 9 has plenty to offer."

WRC 9 isn’t a ground-breaking experience. It suffers from the same long-standing UI issues that have plagued the franchise for ages. And from a technical perspective, it’s far from perfect. The sound design in particular is a major culprit here. But the game delivers in spades where it truly matters. The actual racing in WRC 9 is top notch, rewarding skill and practice in a way that feels true to the sport without feeling punishing. Ample content, meanwhile, ensures that you don’t get bored while putting in those practice hours. If you’re looking for a high skill, off-road racing simulation, WRC 9 is your game.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox One.

The popular rally series focusing on smaller cars will release later this year with its latest entry, WRC 9. The game is sure to give those looking for this type of racer a new jolt, and as is often the case nowadays, there are some bonus goodies to come along with pre-orders and additional editions of the game. Publisher Nacon has detailed those for us today.

As part of a press release from the publisher they outlined what you could expect to get from pre-ordering and the newly unveiled Digital Deluxe Edition. Those who pre-order the game will receive the Audi Quattro A2, the double world champion in both Drivers and Manufacturers categories in 1984.

There will also be a Digital Deluxe Edition that includes early access to the game 48 hours early, a bonus car in the Toyota Corolla WRC, the Barcelona Super Special Stage and starting with some extra experience in the game’s career mode. Outside of the game, you’ll also receive a 3 month subscription service WRC Plus, which airs all stages of the season as well as driver profiles and expert analysis. You can read full details through here.

WRC 9 will come out on September 3rd for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. A version will come later for PS5, Xbox Series X and Switch. You can also check out some of the game in the New Zealand stage through here.