Everyone was convinced that the deal between American distributor Take-Two Interactive and British developer Codemasters was a closed affair - but then another competitor emerged at the last minute and snatched the trophy.
A quality racing game is worth a lot of money, it's no secret - and now we're starting to realize exactly how much they might be worth when Codemasters' acquisition of Take-Two Interactive falls apart, and is replaced by an even more prestigious acquisition EA Games.
Last month we reported to you on a brewing deal in which the veteran British developer and distributor, which has been operating for nearly 35 years regardless of international giants, will take over from Take-Two, one of those giants, for close to a billion dollars. As part of the current trend where many independent developers are being swallowed up by larger companies at an accelerated rate (Microsoft, we're looking at you), it's natural that there have been a number of potential suitors who have examined the viability of acquiring Codemasters. Were required to act as well.
EA Games is the one that wanted more and was willing to pay for it, it turns out - and now with a $ 1.2 billion deal that is an addition of more than 20 percent over the previous offer, it seems that Codemasters is on its way to enriching the available racing game offering of the company that owns The brands Need for Speed And Burnout.
Similar to Take-Two which owns the NBA 2K and WWE 2K and PGA Tour 2K sports brands based on updated launches each year, EA Games is the one that owns EA Sports and the series FIFA, Madden NFL and NHL that are also launched every year - so it seems that this is a similar business approach that they share with Codemasters, which has been increasingly successful in recent years thanks to racing games under the F1 brand that are also launched every calendar year. Is this why it is precisely these two prominent distributors who have fought for the right to purchase the British developer that specializes mainly in racing games of all types and genders?
The new acquisition is scheduled to become official during the first quarter of 2021, so Codemasters will be delisted from the London Stock Exchange and move into a new division of EA with all 700 of its employees - and we are left only after this move gives us a host of new and quality titles under favorite brands Dirt and GRID (and maybe also Need for Speed And Burnout? It's hard to imagine what specific plans are brewing for executives somewhere upstairs, and there will be no re-enactment of what happened when EA acquired studios Development Other successful ones such as Westwood Studios, Origin Systems or Bullfrog Productions.
