EA Codemasters: What does $1bn deal mean for gamers?

In a surprising turn of events, it looks as if Codemasters is to be acquired by gaming giants Electronic Arts.

Developers of F1 2020 and DIRT 5 looked to be on their way to Take-Two Interactive - owners of Rockstar and 2K - but it appears EA has hijacked the deal.

So what does this mean for racing fans everywhere?

Changing lanes

The acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021, is based on a price of $7.98 per share for the UK publisher.

Codemasters president Gerhard Florin said both companies "have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category,"

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EA CEO Andrew Wilson added: "Our industry is growing, the racing section is growing, and together we will be positioned to lead a new era of racing entertainment."

With Codemasters high level of motor racing game development and EA's commercial nous, you can see why this deal suits all parties.

Teaming up

When completed, the deal will add a number of racing IPs to EA's vast group, including Formula 1, Dirt, Grid, and Project Cars.

EA already owns established franchises such as Need for Speed, Burnout, and Real Racing.

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This means EA will have even more control over more player favourite games, which on the one hand can be excellent when it comes to the opportunity to invest and improve Codemaster games more and more.

On the other hand, with EA's business model, we could see infamous micro-transactions that have been implemented in Apex Legends, FIFA 21 and Madden 21 to name but a few, in a large number of new games.

Toby Durant, Editor-in-Chief of RacingGames.gg, said: "Hopefully this deal will allow Codemasters to add more content to their F1 games, like historic, drivers, tracks and cars, and take series like Dirt & GRID to the next level.

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