EA Acquires Codemasters for $1.2 Billion, Outbids Take-Two - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 January 2021 / 2,224 Views
Electronic Arts announced it has reached an agreement with the Board of Codemasters to acquire the UK-based publisher and developer for $1.2 billion. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021.
Codemasters in 2020 developed the racing games Dirt 5 and F1 2020.
"Electronic Arts and Codemasters have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category," said the Chairman of Codemasters Gerhard Florin. "The Board of Codemasters firmly believes the company would benefit from EA’s knowledge, resources and extensive global scale – both overall and specifically within the racing sector. We feel this union would provide an exciting and prosperous future for Codemasters, allowing our teams to create, launch and service bigger and better games to an extremely passionate audience."
The CEO of Electronic Arts Andrew Wilson added, "We believe there is a deeply compelling opportunity in bringing together Codemasters and Electronic Arts to create amazing and innovative new racing games for fans. Our industry is growing, the racing category is growing, and together we will be positioned to lead in a new era of racing entertainment.
"We have admired Codemasters’ creative talent and high-quality games for many years. With the full leverage of EA’s technology, platform expertise, and global reach, this combination will allow us to grow our existing franchises and deliver more industry-defining racing experiences to a global fan base. We are pleased that both our Boards of Directors are recommending this transaction, and we look forward to welcoming such an exciting and talented team to the Electronic Arts family."
Here is EA's rationale for the acquisition:
- Electronic Arts believes the combination of EA and Codemasters will enable further growth and success for Codemasters and EA’s popular and innovative racing franchises.
- Bringing together the combined expertise and talent from Codemasters’ critically-acclaimed sports and racing franchises Formula One, DiRT, DiRT Rally, Grid and Project Cars with EA’s global Need for Speed franchise, fan-favorite Real Racing mobile game and EA SPORTS brands will enable our teams to innovate further, and meaningfully increase the delivery of content and experiences to a growing, global audience for racing entertainment.
- Codemasters’ deep creative talent which has produced high-quality racing games for many years, including the Formula One franchise that continues to deliver great entertainment for F1’s growing fan base.
- EA believes it can help accelerate Codemasters’ performance by leveraging EA’s deep expertise in live services operations, game analytics and technology. In addition, EA’s central services teams across development technology, art & motion capture, quality verification, compliance, and localization will all be resources available to Codemasters.
- EA’s global publishing, marketing and game development support capabilities will also strengthen Codemasters’ existing capabilities, expanding the addressable market for Codemasters’ franchises.
- The combination of Codemasters and Electronic Arts will enable the development and delivery of a market-leading portfolio of creative and exciting racing games and content to more platforms and more players around the world.
- The union also creates ongoing and expanded ways for players to engage with the combined portfolio of sports and racing games through EA’s industry-leading multi-platform subscription services.
- Bringing together Codemasters and Electronic Arts also delivers compelling financial benefit to the combined group. The acquisition is expected to grow net bookings and underlying profitability.
- Frank Sagnier, Chief Executive Officer of Codemasters, and Rashid Varachia, Chief Financial Officer of Codemasters, along with the senior executive management team of Codemasters intend to remain with Codemasters following completion of the acquisition and will continue to lead the Codemasters business within EA’s organization.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Well, Codemasters will be closed in 5 years. This sucks to read.
Not sure it really matters. I assume the goal was just to bolster their racing games. Which I assume will change to Frostbite. I am kinda confused by the demand for this studio.
Well this is even worse than Take-Two buying Codemasters.
Goodbye Codemasters.
In a couple of years, there will be no more codemasters. They will keep the licenses of all of those racing games and discard whatever else they have.
Fast Forward a couple of years and Codemasters will be shut down.
F to Take Two
F to Codemasters
RIP Codemasters.
Is this an odd way for EA getting the F1 contract? They have nearly every other sport, didn't have F1 so just bought the company that did.
So should the people at Codemasters start thinking about other job options in the future?
Now they are going to pump out Yearly F1 Race Stars Games man that racing games was weird
EA ruins anything they touch. RIP
Truly a sad day in gaming.
1.2 billion is an overwhelming price for Codemasters. I can’t see how EA will benefit from this acquisition, but oh well
There goes my hopes for an Overlord 3.
Oh you would get a Overlord 3.. Mobile version
oh god, thats even worse than no Overlord 3 at all
I thought I saw 798 million or something
Most imporatantly, does this purchase include Game Genie? Why else would they spend over a billion?
Why would they want it: "Take Two wants it. T" is our competitor. Let them take their toy away."
Right? Bethesda was what? 7.2 Billion? And they have some of the most well-known franchises in the history of gaming. This isn't even remotely fair/close. Microsoft got the FAR better deal.
