If you’re a GRID or a Dirt fan, get ready for a new chapter under a new game publisher. It seems the upcoming titles will come under the rally of EA. The sudden news of a deal unfolded in less than a weekend: EA acquires Codemasters.
Just earlier this morning, EA did a last-minute bid for the racing game studio and publisher Codemasters. This came as a surprise as the original bidder, Take-Two Interactive, received a nasty shock.
Take-Two Interactive, the holding company behind Rockstar and 2K, lost the bidding war earlier today. The noticeably larger publisher, EA, blocked Take-Two’s attempt at buying out some of the largest franchises in the racing games world and the teams behind them.
EA Acquires Codemasters
As reported by gamesindustry.biz, this deal between EA and Codemasters is based on a price of $7.98 per share, which will amount to approximately $1.2 billion for Codemasters. The deal is expected to be complete by Q1 2021, upon which EA will be adding to its racing game titles. Notably, Formula 1, GRID, Dirt, as well Project Cars will be the IP of EA.
If you are already worried about the future of your favorite racing games, there is a silver lining. Frank Sagnier, the CEO of Codemasters, CFO Rashid Varachia, as well the entire senior executive management team are staying in their positions. So, at the very least we can tell that EA is not solely after the IPs.
There are also other things to be optimistic about from this takeover. Need for Speed is one of the largest racing franchises out there. EA’s technology and resources are also beyond anything Codemasters were able to achieve on their own. We could be looking at a new GRID game with the full force of EA’s technology and more developers than Codemasters could fit into their offices.
So here it is, EA acquires Codemasters and all the racing games franchises it once held. Though the deal is not yet final, it is expected to be closed by Q1 2021. After that, we will be witnessing a new chapter for all those IPs.