The American gaming company Electronic Arts (EA), announced today that it has reached an agreement to buy the British game developer and publisher Codemasters for $1.2 billion. The gaming giant plans to complete the transaction in the first quarter of 2021.
According to the deal, Electronic Arts is going to buy out Codemasters for 604 pence (approximately US$7.98*) per share, which will approximately total up to $1.2 billion. This deal is superior to that of Take-Two Interactive’s, who had offered to buy the British gaming company for 485 pence per share.
Electronic Arts Inc. is one of the worlds largest gaming companies. EA develops, publishes, and distributes games spanning variety of genres. The company is well known as the maker of Need for Speed, Battlefield, and SIMS franchise, and also for its most recent battle-royale hit Apex Legends. Some of the other popular games by EA include Mirrors Edge, and the Star Wars franchise.
The British game developer and publisher, Codemasters, is no stranger to the world of gaming either, as it is the developer behind the well-regarded and popular racing games such as the Formula 1, Grid and DiRT series. Considering the overall offerings of the company, Codemasters can be seen as a specialist in racing games.
This EA-Codemasters deal will greatly aid EA in its ability to develop racing games, and also provide the opportunity to profit from the well-established games of the developer.
“Bringing together the combined expertise and talent from Codemasters’ critically-acclaimed sports and racing franchises Formula One, DiRT, DiRT Rally, Grid and Project Cars with EA’s global Need for Speed franchise, fan-favorite Real Racing mobile game and EA SPORTS brands will enable our teams to innovate further, and meaningfully increase the delivery of content and experiences to a growing, global audience for racing entertainment,” wrote EA in the press release.
EA’s acquisition of Codemasters will make the company the main competitor of Sony’s Gran Turismo and Microsoft’s Forza series. The deal will also help expand the behemoth’s already large foothold in the gaming market, leading to increased financial success.
“Bringing together Codemasters and Electronic Arts also delivers compelling financial benefit to the combined group. The acquisition is expected to grow net bookings and underlying profitability,” wrote EA.
Codemasters’ CEO Frank Sagnier and Chief Financial Officer Rashid Varachia along with the senior executive management team to remain with Codemasters even after the completion of the acquisition. EA said that they will continue to lead the Codemasters business within EA’s organization.
