Video game industry giant Electronic Arts have announced early on Monday morning London time that it has reached an agreement with the board of U.K. game developer and publisher Codemasters. EA will be acquiring it in a deal valued at $1.2 billion.
The offer won over an earlier takeover bid from Take-Two Interactive for the racing game makers. Codemasters titles such as Formula One and Dirt. Electronic Arts will be paying close to $1.2 billion for the studio. However, It wasn’t immediately clear if Take-Two would counter the offer and set off a bidding war.
Codemasters, founded in 1986 and based in Southam, England. Electronic Arts announced the deal was anticipated to be finished in the first quarter.
“EA and Codemasters have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category,” said Gerhard Florin, the chairman of Codemasters. “The board of Codemasters firmly believes the company would benefit from EA’s knowledge, resources, and extensive global scale – both overall and specifically within the racing sector. We feel this union would provide an exciting and prosperous future for Codemasters. Additionally, it will allow our teams to create, launch and service bigger and better games to an extremely passionate audience.”
EA CEO Andrew Wilson said “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.”
Among other benefits, EA said “the union also creates ongoing and expanded ways for players to engage with the combined portfolio of sports and racing games through EA’s industry-leading multi-platform subscription services.”
Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier and CFO Rashid Varachia, along with the senior executive management team of Codemasters, plan to remain with the company. Moreover they “will continue to lead the Codemasters business within EA’s organization,” the companies said.
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