EA To Buy Codemasters For $1.2 Billion

Electronic Arts has announced that it has made an offer to acquire racing game developer Codemasters for $1.2 billion. Back in November Take-Two Interactive made an offer of $994 million, which would have added racing franchises such as Dirt, Dirt Rally, and F1 to its library of games. EA's announcement was initially revealed by Sky News and officially confirmed this week.

The Codemasters board of directors has approved the bid, saying that EA's experience in creating live service games and its wealth of resources will allow EA to dominate the racing game genre once the company adds the various Codemasters studios to its collection.

"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 to a global fan base," EA CEO Andrew Wilson said.

Take-Two had originally offered Codemasters $994 million in November before EA made its counter-offer. EA's deal is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2021. In a statement on its investor website, Take-Two said, "Take-Two is considering its position in relation to Codemasters and a further announcement will be made when appropriate."

Burnout developer Criterion Games was acquired by EA back in 2004 and tasked with producing three Need for Speed games from 2010-2013. Recent games in the series have been handled by EA Gothenberg, formerly known as Ghost Games.