Hasbro Interactive Signs Five-Year Formula 1 Deal, Locks Up Geoff Crammond

Hasbro Interactive has locked in Formula 1 for five years across multiple titles and platforms, stacking a third racing license on top of the NASCAR and Grand Prix 500 agreements it announced earlier this year.

The part that matters to sim racers is further down the page: Geoff Crammond has tied himself to Hasbro Interactive with a long-term development licensing arrangement. Crammond has worked with the MicroProse team on the earlier Grand Prix titles, and Grand Prix 2 alone has sold over 1.5 million copies. The first games out of the new arrangement will be Grand Prix 3 and Grand Prix World, the latter carrying on from the Grand Prix Manager series.

Formula 1 itself is headed back to American soil, with an event set for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2000. The timing for a big F1 gaming push could hardly be better.