Everyone remembers the fairly large controversy around the Madden NFL exclusivity. Since 2005 and until 2012, Madden has been and will be the only game that is exclusively allowed to use the likenesses of players, stadiums, teams, anything else related to the NFL in a videogame. If it doesn’t say Madden, and by extension EA, then it wasn’t the NFL. Obviously you remember the same controversy when Dorna Sports signed an exclusivity agreement in 2008 with Capcom to license any MotoGP racing games. No? Huh, I wonder why that is?

Capcom has announced that their next next installment in the MotoGP series will be developed by Monumental Games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Monumental, primarily a MMO developer, is also currently working on a football (soccer for Americans) MMO and hunting MMO. Could this mean MotoGP is going massive? With the previous installments allowing up to 12 players online how much more online interaction could you ask for? Persistent worlds? Burnout Paradise-style online interaction? It seems unlikely with all the previous iterations of the series being so focused on simulation.

MMO or otherwise, Capcom is promising “to take the series in a totally new and exciting direction, whilst remaining faithful to the world’s premier motorcycling championship.” Michael Pattison, Senior Marketing Director of Capcom Europe, had this to say of Monumental Games, “[I am] confident they are the right choice to create a game that will both satisfy existing fans and bring newcomers to the franchise.” MotoGP as a Road Rash MMO confirmed?