Rory McIlroy PGA Tour

Not to be confused with PGA Tour (series).
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour

Developer(s) EA Tiburon
Publisher(s) EA Sports
Series PGA Tour
Engine Frostbite 3[1]
Platform(s) PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Release date(s)
  • July 14, 2015
Genre(s) Sports (Golf)
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is an upcoming golf video game under development by EA Tiburon. First announced at E3 2014 under the PGA Tour banner, it is expected to be released in July 14, 2015, coinciding with the 2015 Open Championship. The game will mark the franchise's shift to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, adopting the Frostbite 3 engine for more "lifelike" environments, and is also the first entry in EA Sports' PGA Tour series to not feature Tiger Woods as its namesake, replacing him with current World Number One Rory McIlroy.

Development

Electronic Arts' PGA Tour franchise was placed on a hiatus following its 2013 release, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14; in October 2013, EA announced that the game would also be the final installment in the series co-branded with Tiger Woods, and that he would be replaced by a new title golfer for its next edition.[2] At EA's E3 press conference in June 2014, the company presented footage of the next game in the series under the working title EA Sports PGA Tour. Unlike other recent EA Sports titles, which were unified around the Ignite engine, the game utilizes the Frostbite 3 engine, originally developed by DICE primarily for the Battlefield franchise. The Frostbite engine allows an entire course to be rendered all at once rather than on a hole-by-hole basis—reducing loading times between holes. Executive producer Brent Nielsen explained that Frostbite 3 was tailored towards "creating complex, lifelike environments", and that it allowed the team to "recreate some of the world's most beautiful courses, as well as create some new ideas of our own."[3][2] Golf Channel's Rich Lerner and Frank Nobilo will replace Jim Nantz and David Feherty as the game's commentators.[2]

On March 16, 2015, it was announced that Rory McIlroy would serve as the new title athlete, naming the game Rory McIlroy PGA Tour. It was scheduled to be released in June 2015, before being delayed to July 14.[4]

Courses

EA has not yet announced a full listing of the courses which will be included in the game, but has shown footage of TPC at Sawgrass, Wolf Creek and a fantasy course set on the Battlefield map Paracel Storm.[3][2] Due to an expired license, Augusta National and the Masters Tournament will no longer appear in the game, although an EA representative has suggested that the course may be re-introduced as downloadable content in the future.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Prell, Sam (9 June 2014). "Fore! EA Sports PGA Tour brings golf out of the Woods". Joystiq. AOL. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Good, Owen S. (16 March 2015). "EA Sports' golf video game returns as Rory McIlroy PGA Tour (Update)". Polygon. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sarkar, Samit (9 June 2014). "EA Sports PGA Tour being developed in Frostbite 3 engine, coming spring 2015". Polygon. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (23 April 2015). "New PGA Tour Game Delayed, But Exciting New Gameplay Details Revealed". GameSpot. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  5. ↑ Purchese, Robert (7 April 2015). "EA Rory McIlroy PGA Tour golf omits The Masters". Eurogamer. Retrieved 9 April 2015.