EA Acquisition of Codemasters is Complete - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 18 February 2021 / 2,090 Views
Electronic Arts announced its acquisition of Codemasters has been finalized. The deal was worth $1.2 billion.
Codemasters is a video game publisher and developer based in England. They are best known for the racing franchises Dirt, F1, Grid, and OnRush. They also secured the rights to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) and also owns Project Cars developer Slightly Mad.
"This is the beginning of an exciting new era for racing games and content as we bring together the talented teams at Electronic Arts and Codemasters," said EA CEO Andrew Wilson.
"Racing fandom continues to grow worldwide, and the franchises in our combined portfolio will enable us to create innovative new experiences and bring more players into the excitement of cars and motorsport. Our teams will be a global powerhouse in racing entertainment, with amazing games for players on every platform, and we can’t wait to get started."
Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier added, "Today is a landmark in Codemasters’ history, and an exciting day for our employees and players. The partnership with EA will enable our teams to take our highly-acclaimed franchises to new heights and reach a huge global audience through their player network.
"Together we can redefine the landscape of racing games to create even more compelling experiences for racing fans around the world."
Read the press release on the acquisition below:
Electronic Arts Inc. , a global leader in interactive entertainment, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Codemasters for 604 pence (approximately US$8.37*) in cash for each ordinary share of Codemasters with an implied enterprise value of US$1.2 billion*.
The combination of Electronic Arts and Codemasters marks an exciting new era in racing game entertainment. Bringing together two of the most passionate, creative and talented game developer and publishing organizations in the industry will enable further growth and continued success for a stable of the most powerful and popular racing brands in the world, including Formula 1, Need for Speed, DIRT, DiRT Rally / WRC, GRID, Project CARS, Real Racing, and more. With this critically acclaimed portfolio, Electronic Arts and Codemasters will be positioned to bring fans a regular cadence of new and exciting racing content, in addition to reaching across more platforms and more regions of the world.
Codemasters’ critically-acclaimed franchises Formula 1, DIRT, DiRT Rally, GRID, and Project CARS will sit alongside Electronic Arts’ global Need for Speed franchise, fan-favorite Real Racing mobile game, and its EA Sports brands, enabling greater innovation and increasing the capability to deliver content and experiences to a truly global audience for racing entertainment.
The union will open significant growth opportunities for Codemasters franchises with access to Electronic Arts’ network of more than 430 million players and industry-leading multi-platform subscription services. Electronic Arts also brings deep data and analytics capabilities to the Codemasters development and publishing teams, providing audience insights to accelerate the performance of key franchises. These capabilities, as well as Electronic Arts’ global publishing, marketing and game development strength, will unlock new opportunities for the combined group’s portfolio of racing games and content to reach and deeply engage more players around the world on console, PC and mobile.
The acquisition of Codemasters is part of Electronic Arts’ growth strategy focused on delivering more exceptional experiences and top live services, and reaching more players on more platforms around the world. The acquisition of Codemasters is also expected to grow net bookings and underlying profitability for Electronic Arts.
The acquisition of Codemasters was financed with cash on hand.
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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I just realized that this means the PC versions will probably require Origin in the future. That completely kills my interest in any of them.
This was a right move!
Merging with a well funded publisher and getting some extra g's for more bad ass gameplay haha
I think this is the 1st time im happy with an EA aquisition. To be honest Codemasters didnt stand a chance as a company with the low sales of their games. At least now they are "saved" from closing down. I hope we continue to see the quality of their talent in racing genre!
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