Electronic Arts to Acquire Codemasters for $1.2 Billion

Electronic Arts has confirmed that it reached an agreement to acquire Codemasters. The deal is for $1.2 billion with the latter’s shareholders receiving approximately $7.98 per ordinary share. EA’s offer comes at the last minute when Codemasters was initially slated to be acquired by Take Two Interactive for £750 million (roughly $980 billion).

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson stated that, “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. 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.”

The publisher also believes that Codemasters’ expertise with the Formula One, DiRT and other franchises along with EA’s Need for Speed and EA Sports brands will enable “our teams to innovate further.” It also believes that it can “accelerate” the developer’s performance with its “deep expertise in live services operations, game analytics and technology.” Resources like localization, art and motion capture, quality verification will also be made available to Codemasters from EA’s side. Of course, having the global publishing and marketing resources of EA is also expected to help expand the market for the developer’s titles.

The acquisition is expected to be done by Q1 2021, unless another publisher swoops in to stake its own claim (cue Microsoft with the last second run-in). It seems unlikely but stay tuned for more details on that front regardless.