Having completed its acquisition of racing game studio Codemasters, Electronic Arts has said that it plans to treat the developer as an “independent group for the foreseeable future.”
Originally in talks to be acquired by Take-Two Interactive, Codemasters ended up accepting a more lucrative offer of $1.2 billion from EA. The publisher already owns a number of racing franchises, and evidently wanted to retain its edge in the genre. However, those who are aware of EA’s history are skeptical of the move, especially since the company shut down EA Black Box and two Ghost Games studios.
In a statement to IGN, EA executive Matt Bilbey pledged support for the racing genre and said that the company wants to enable Codemasters to grow. He further said:
We are huge fans of the racing genre and I know that many of your readers are too, which is why I’m sure they’ll understand just why we’ve admired Codemasters for so long. Our intent is to build on the success that Codemasters have generated, ensuring we help create a bright, brilliant, and exciting future for racing fans that’s populated by amazing games delivered into the hands of more players than ever before.
Codemasters joins one of the strongest creative collectives in the industry alongside DICE, Respawn, Bioware, Criterion, EA Sports, and many others, and the shared knowledge and expertise of this group paves the way for significant innovation for all. We are looking forward to providing Codemasters with every level of support to drive success together, and know there is a strong future ahead of us.
Codemasters’ acquisition adds Formula 1, DIRT, DiRT Rally, GRID, and Project CARS to EA’s portfolio.
[Source: IGN]
