Dear EA, please apologize to RS Watanabe immediately

[VBRgtshm41]

Before I start the thread, I understand this is an opened can of worm-however what this thread showed is actually happening. Please keep calm and discuss rationally, thank you.


We all wonder what happened to RS Watanabe wheels in racing games-over the recent years its appearance has become a rare sight. So what is going on?
Well, we should blame EA causing RS Watanabe to cut all ties to racing games.

It all started with this Facebook post from RS Watanabe's official account, being surprised on why their brand and its famous 8-spoke wheels appeared on NFS titles like The Run, NFS 2015 and Payback. Somehow RS Watanabe never received any contact form EA on using their brand name and wheels in the games, but hoping EA can contact before using next time-that did not happened.

Unfortunately as seen from the screenshot, Japanese were not happy that EA infringing RS Watanabe, and one even tried to inquire EA in hope of verify but in vain: EA only replied with "unable to answer on such case".

This just triggered RS Watanabe and they decided to rebel silently-thus they pulled out of every racing games you can name: NFS, Wangan Midnight, Initial D, and so on. One recent example is the Devil Z and Takumi's AE86 in Drift Spirit uses Advan Racing RS instead of the original Watanabe wheels.

So why did I bring up this case after all these years? With the news of Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2025, we have been wondering what brand would this game includes-and actually, Japanese gamers hope to see RS Watanabe wheels to make its game appearence once again. I even came across a joke tweet imaging if Genki can get RS Watanabe license for TXR2025:

For the confused readers, the tweet reads like,
"Hey EA, screw you-we got licenses from RAYS and RS Watanabe. Get a formal gift and apologize properly for what you done after all these years."

True, the famous 8-spoke wheels are Minilite clones, yet the voice for RS Watanabe's return on racing games is going strong.
I hope Western gamers finally got a clue on what happened, as I can only find English communities still questioning why before this thread.

And although this sounds impossible:
Please, EA, for god's sake, apologize to RS Watanabe so we can enjoy their wheels once again.

 

[05XR8]

The Watanabe wheel is still on the Shuichi Shigeno Version in Gran Turismo 7. Only time Gran Turismo players could use those wheels on other cars was in GT4.

 

[VBRgtshm41]

The Watanabe wheel is still on the Shuichi Shigeno Version in Gran Turismo 7. Only time Gran Turismo players could use those wheels on other cars was in GT4.

Which reminds me of the screenshot when one asked about the AE86 SS Version and 240RS Road Car:

It seems RS Watanabe are astonished of the 8-spoke wheels on these cars too. Though the 86 is simple since this is Shigeno custom, the 240RS case is just mysterious-the Hasegawa model kit used different wheel.
For Bluebird Rally Car, OG Minilite perhaps?