EA acquires Codemasters for $1.2 billion!
After Codemasters accepted EA's buyout offer a few weeks ago, the acquisition is now official. What does this concretely mean for the two companies?
It’s now official, the British racing game studio Codemasters has been acquired by the video game giant Electronic Arts (EA). The American company is known for its franchises like FIFA, Need For Speed, and Battlefield. These highly popular games have allowed it to become one of the pillars of the industry, with a revenue of 5.537 billion dollars in 2020.
An offer to acquire Codemasters had already been communicated in December by Take-Two, the studio notably owning GTA. The company had proposed the sum of 870 million dollars. Eventually, about a month ago, the American company withdrew its offer, leaving the field open to EA. Although EA has just lost exclusivity on Star Wars games, they have enough to continue growing thanks to major Codemasters licenses such as the official F1 game, among other racing games.
1.2 billion is therefore the sum proposed by EA and accepted by Codemasters, or rather by the shareholders of Codemasters. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, the company has seen its valuation increase by more than 13%. Each of its shareholders thus benefits directly.
Going from the stars to the cattle floor could well be a winning bet for EA, which will be able to benefit from the expertise of British developers, experts in racing games. Codemasters is behind a number of games such as F1, Dirt Rally, WRC, Grid, Project Cars, which have enjoyed both critical acclaim and strong sales. For example, this summer, the game F1 2020 was one of the best-selling games for a long time.
What are the consequences for Codemaster?
For Codemasters, this acquisition is an opportunity to have much more financial means than before. However, they will have to deal with EA’s management, now involved in all strategic discussions. Indeed, the American company has often been considered guilty of the loss of licenses like BurnOut, Sin City, or Mass Effect, which all disappeared shortly after their acquisition by EA.
A buyout of which Andrew Wilson, the CEO of EA, seems very proud: « This is the start of an exciting new era for racing games with the joining of the talented teams of Electronic Arts and Codemasters. Motorsport fans are increasing in numbers worldwide, and the franchises in our combined portfolios will allow us to create innovative new experiences, thus attracting more players to the world of cars and motorsport. »
It will therefore be interesting to see in which direction EA will take Codemasters and which licenses might appear or disappear. Let’s remember that F1 has only entrusted its video game to Codemasters since 2009. The license was previously granted to Sony Liverpool and even earlier to the Bizarre Creations studio.
We’re excited to welcome @Codemasters to the EA family! ???????? pic.twitter.com/y3yYB94vmF
— Electronic Arts (@EA) February 18, 2021
