Publisher Black Bean plans to revamp the World Rally Championship licence into a new annual games franchise, MCV can reveal.

And the firm has set its sights on challenging Codemasters’ recent success with fellow racer Dirt 2.

Black Bean has signed up the licence on an initial three year deal, with the first game set to arrive on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in September next year.

Dirt 2 has been a regular fixture in the weekly charts since its launch last month.

“We have a lot of respect for the team at Codemasters and Dirt 2 is a fantastic game,” Simone Bechini, the deputy general manager of WRC developer Milestone, explained to MCV.

“But for sure, we will do our best to match and possibly beat that game. The racing genre is very well populated with great franchises. But WRC is very unique.”

Publisher Black Bean is already looking ahead to future titles, as the real-life World Rally Championship grows its audience in the years ahead according to international communications manager Francesca Tognoni:

“We like to see this as the beginning of a long friendship between WRC and Black Bean. We will use the WRC to help guarantee to our suppliers and retail partners that there will be strong marketing activity for this game. We are helped by the overwhelming support of the WRC and their sponsors. There will be a strong campaign on this title.”

Sony published the official WRC games until 2005.