Electronic Arts announced today that it had reached an agreement to purchase UK-based game developer and publisher Codemasters, which is best known for the DIRT, Project Cars, GRID, and F1 franchises. While EA already has an impressive car catalog comprising various Need for Speed and Burnout titles, the acquisition is sure to cement the publishing giant’s position in the racing category.
Rockstar Games and 2K parent Take-Two Interactive had also shown interest in buying Codemasters, but it was ultimately outbid by EA, which presented a more lucrative offer of 604 pence (approximately $7.98) per share in cash. The deal is reportedly worth $1.2 billion.
“Electronic Arts and Codemasters have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category,” said Gerhard Florin, Chairman of Codemasters. “The Board of Codemasters firmly believes the company would benefit from EA’s knowledge, resources and extensive global scale – both overall and specifically within the racing sector. We feel this union would provide an exciting and prosperous future for Codemasters, allowing our teams to create, launch and service bigger and better games to an extremely passionate audience.”
“We believe there is a deeply compelling opportunity in bringing together Codemasters and Electronic Arts to create amazing and innovative new racing games for fans,” added EA CEO Andrew Wilson. “Our industry is growing, the racing category is growing, and together we will be positioned to lead in a new era of racing entertainment. We have admired Codemasters’ creative talent and high-quality games for many years. 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. We are pleased that both our Boards of Directors are recommending this transaction, and we look forward to welcoming such an exciting and talented team to the Electronic Arts family.”