I’m not even gonna overcomplicate this, Trackmania isn’t in a weird spot because the game is bad. The game is actually sick. The driving, the mechanics, the skill ceiling, all of that is still top tier. That’s not the issue. The issue is everything around it just feels so off lately.
Like how do you have a game carried this hard by its own community and still somehow not lean into that properly? We’ve got people making insane maps every day, creators like Wirtual pulling crazy numbers, a playerbase that actually sticks around for years instead of dropping the game after a month and then somehow the decisions coming from Nadeo and Ubisoft just don’t match any of that.
Half the time there’s barely any communication, and when there is it doesn’t even address what people are actually annoyed about. The official maps can be so hit or miss it’s actually frustrating, and that’s being nice about it (I know official campaigns are made by waypoint but there are clearly restrictions, just look at what they built for RBF). Like let’s be honest, most of the time the community is making way better stuff anyway, so why does it feel like that side of the game is still being treated like a bonus instead of the main thing?
And don’t even get me started on updates. It’s like things change but not in ways anyone asked for. Meanwhile actual issues just sit there for ages. You end up wondering who they’re even making decisions for, because it doesn’t feel like the players.
That’s why this idea doesn’t even sound that crazy to me anymore, what if the community just bought Nadeo?
Yeah it sounds mad at first, but think about it. This game already basically runs off its community. The maps, the events, the content, even a lot of the hype, it’s not coming from the devs most of the time. So why not actually let the people who clearly care the most have some control?
Because imagine how different things would be if decisions actually lined up with what players want. We’d actually know what’s going on instead of guessing. Feedback wouldn’t just disappear into nothing. There’d be some kind of accountability instead of this weird silence where no one knows what the plan is.
Maps would instantly be better as well, because you’d just fully embrace community creators instead of awkwardly half-supporting them. Reward them properly, push their work more, fix things like TOTD so it actually feels consistent instead of random. It’s not even hard to see the solution because it’s literally already there.
Same with esports. Right now it just feels all over the place. You start getting invested and then something changes again. Formats, structure, direction, it never feels locked in. If the community had more say, at least it would actually be built for the people who are watching and playing instead of feeling like it’s being reset every few months.
And monetisation as well, like no one actually minds spending money on a game they like, but it has to feel worth it. Not forced. Just do cosmetics, supporter stuff, let creators earn from what they make. Give people a reason to spend instead of locking stuff behind subscriptions and hoping people accept it.
I’m not dumb, I know this probably isn’t realistic. Ubisoft aren’t just gonna sell Nadeo because some players are annoyed, and organising something like that would be a mess anyway.
But that’s not even really the point.
The point is it genuinely feels like the community understands what Trackmania should be more than the people in charge of it right now. And that’s the part that’s frustrating.
Because the game doesn’t need saving in terms of gameplay. It doesn’t need some massive overhaul or a new engine or anything like that. It just needs direction that actually makes sense.
And right now, I’d trust the community with that more than Nadeo.