Electronic Arts seems very close to finalizing a deal to acquire Codemasters.
Photo Credit: Koch Media / Codemasters
The shuffle around the future of Codemasters seems over as big gaming studio Take-Two apparently removed their offer from the table. This sets up EA as the only candidate financially sound enough to buy the studio.
Take-Two has pulled their offer for Codemasters, meaning the road is clear for EA to acquire the company in the near futurehttps://t.co/qntQvbFTrP pic.twitter.com/RStkKjf5x3
— Nibel (@Nibellion) January 13, 2021
Back in November last year, Take-Two, the studio behind games like L.A. Noire and Bioshock, reached an agreement with Codemasters about the purchase of the English racing games developer. The two studios initially agreed on a $900 million price tag.
A few weeks later the deal was shaken by another offer coming from Electronic Arts. EA went forward bidding $1.2 billion, upping the former deal by more than $300 million. Until today, there has been no clear path forward, however, this news doesn’t come by surprise. Over the past month, there have been numerous speculations about EA being in prime position for the purchase. Now, there is nothing stopping them from being the only formidable bidder.
With the acquisition of Codemasters, EA gain quite a powerful portfolio. Codemasters holds the rights to the offical F1 games as well as a big stock in the console playerbase of racing games with Project CARS and DIRT. The final deal is likely to occur in the early part of this year.
Concern in the playerbase
Th deal does not only spark joy. Electronic Arts’ reputation for adding micro-transactions and additional purchasable content such as DLCs has made waves across the internet. With the Codemasters deal on the horizon, fans are fearful of a similar things happening to games like F1 2021. They express their fear in Tweets like this:
When EA buy Codemasters: pic.twitter.com/ViLyx521wY
— Jeff is gone🥶 (@realJeffnoscam) December 13, 2020
EA’s track record of racing games isn’t too promising either. Their last trys at racing games are of course the Need for Speed games. While being a staple in the early 2000s, the series has decreased in popularity ever since.
What do you think about the likely purchase of codemaster by EA? Tell us on Twitter at @overtake_gg!