EA and Codemasters won’t be releasing a new F1 game in 2026, deciding to instead skip a year and return in 2027 with a more “expansive” title. But don’t worry, because the 2026 season will still be represented, just in paid DLC form.

“The decision to offer a premium content update for F1® 25 is part of a strategic reset for the F1® Franchise,” says a new update on the EA website. “In 2027, a new game will be released that looks, feels, and plays differently, delivering more gameplay choices.”

This will mark the first time Codemasters has not released a new F1 game each year since 2009, when it first started producing F1 games.

These days, Formula 1 games is all Codemasters is making, as their rally games were paused after EA Sports WRC didn’t do well commercially, largely because rallying in general has been seeing a decline in popularity. There are currently no plans to bring back the DiRT games or the Grid series, either.

Personally, I think the pause could be good for the series. Releasing a new game every year is fine, but this way Codemasters can take some time to overhaul the racing and deliver something stronger, although the fan reaction to F1 2025 was good.

I actually find it interesting that they haven’t shifted sports titles like this to a live-service model. I don’t like live-service for the most part, but if anything does suit it, it would be this kind of game where yearly refreshes could be handled via a once-a-year expansion pack, with a new game proper launching every few years instead of annually.