Come along, because this fight had the thrill of a race’s final stretch. In November 2020, Codemasters, the British studio behind the Dirt, F1 and Grid series, had agreed to be bought by Take-Two, owner of Rockstar and 2K, in a cash-and-stock deal worth almost US$ 1 billion. The idea was for Codemasters to work under the 2K label, and the deal was expected to close in early 2021.
On December 14, 2020, Electronic Arts entered the track with a bigger offer: £6.04 per share, all in cash, in a deal valued at about US$ 1.2 billion, some 14% above Take-Two’s proposal. Codemasters’ board changed its recommendation and began backing EA.
Codemasters chairman Gerhard Florin said: “EA and Codemasters share the ambition to lead the racing games category.” For EA, the purchase put Codemasters under the same umbrella as Criterion, the studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed. At the time, Take-Two said only that it was “considering its position in relation to Codemasters” and would make a further announcement “when appropriate”.
A cute piece of history: Codemasters was founded in October 1986 by brothers Richard and David Darling, who started as teenagers making cheap games for 8-bit computers, and it is one of the oldest studios in the United Kingdom.
What came next
Take-Two formally withdrew its offer in January 2021. EA completed the purchase on February 18, 2021, and Andrew Wilson, EA’s chief, said Codemasters would remain a standalone unit within the company, like Respawn. Today Codemasters is part of the EA Sports division. In July 2021, CEO Frank Sagnier and CFO Rashid Varachia left the company as part of the integration.
Source: Eurogamer.
Lady Combo
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment.