Electronics has completed the purchase of Codemasters, one of the UK’s longest-running and most-storied studios. A press release confirmed that the sale was”604 pence (roughly US$8.37) in cash for each ordinary share of Codemasters with an estimated enterprise value of US$1.2 billion”
Though latterly famous for its expertise in racing games, Codemasters was founded in 1986 by brothers David and Richard Darling and, operating across platforms in the ZX Spectrum to Commodore 64, quickly established a reputation for quality titles: and a willingness to cock a snook at platform-holders with strange products such as the Game Genie.
Recent years have seen Codemasters pivot entirely towards the racing genre, and its experience there is what prompted the recent bidding war between EA and Take-Two so as to acquire the programmer. Both publishers are now giants, and have serious layouts on different areas of sport games. After Take-Two’s initial interest, that got as far as a tentative deal being agreed, EA acquired involved December, and once the price hit a cool $1.2 billion Take-Two decided to withdraw.
Two weeks past 63 of Codemasters’ 76 shareholders (representing 99 percent of held shares) accepted EA’s takeover bid, producing the official statement something of a formality, but here it is.
As one might anticipate it makes a huge deal of this F1 and Dirt series’, in addition to Project Cars by Slightly Mad Studios, which as a subsidiary of Codemasters is a portion of the offer. EA would probably make it a portable game anyhow.
EA has previously told investors the Codemasters acquisition is about creating itself”a global leader in racing entertainment”, with the capacity to put new”racing experiences” on an annual basis.
“The partnership with EA will enable our teams to take our highly-acclaimed franchises to new heights and achieve a huge global audience through their player community. Collectively we could redefine the landscape of racing games to create even more compelling adventures for racing lovers around the globe.”