EA has beaten Take-Two and is set to acquire British racing game studio Codemasters in a deal worth $1.2 billion. Take-Two were originally planning to purchase the developer behind F1 games, Dirt and Grid but Electronic Arts have trumped them. Codemasters said in a statement that EA’s offer was superior to Take-Two’s cash-and-stock buyout offer of 485 pence per share.
“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,” EA Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson said.
“We think Codemasters is an attractive asset with a lot of the qualities a consolidator might look for… It also has a strategic relationship with Chinese operator NetEase, offering a direct route in the lucrative Chinese market,” Citi analysts said.
EA… The bane of the gaming world
Let’s preemptively press F for Codemasters.
Really don’t like the way the games industry is going. Pretty soon there will only be a few companies owning every developer and I don’t see anything positive about that.
Its starting to look like the movie industry.
That’s the corporate agenda for you. Happens across every industry once it becomes large enough.
so they make racing games cool
It’s sad when I hope that a video game company I don’t care about doesn’t purchase a company I care.
I hope this NEVER happens to SEGA/Sonic (especially when the company originates in Japan).
EDIT (because this site STILL doesn’t let you edit):
It’s sad when I hope that a video game company I don’t care about doesn’t purchase a company I care about.
I hope this NEVER happens to SEGA/Sonic (especially when the company originates in Japan).
@amanfromdeclan,
If anyone ever buys Sega, I hope it’s Nintendo. NOBODY ELSE!
Not even what could be the Team Headcannon of Modern Sonic/Dreamcast Sonic (as opposed to the same company that killed MOTHER, F-Zero, Chibi-Robo, Paper Mario, etc.)?
Well there goes another studio, getting the promise and talent sucked out of it.
I hope nobody loved the games that Codemasters made, because they’re probably going to be destroyed with EA buying them. (- _ -)