Electronic Arts to buy Codemasters (1.2 Billion)

[JaegerDice]

EA agrees $1.2 billion acquisition of Codemasters

Didn't see a thread for this.

Take2 originally made a pitch for them for $800 Million, and as far as acquisitions go, I was pretty in favor of it. Take2 is rolling in GTA money that they could put towards Codemasters stable of racing games, their marketing is top notch, and their portfolio was lacking in the racing genre.

Seems EA felt it made too much sense as well, as they got on the horn and made a bid of 1.2 Billion, which was enough to make Take2 back off.

So now Codemasters will join Criterion under the EA banner, making EA essentially the dominant power in racing games by adding the F1 License, the DiRT rally franchise, the Project CARS simulation series, as well as games like GRID. Given the announcement awhile ago that Criterion was going to be working on the Need for Speed series again (they haven't been since NFS Most Wanted on 360/PS3), will be interested to see if these games are rebranded as NFS titles as well (aside from F1 of course). Need for Speed: Rally or some such.

So basically, you've got the Sony exclusive (Gran Turismo), the Microsoft exclusive (Forza) and EA. Those are your choices for major racing game franchises.

Click to read more...

 

[The Crypto Guy]

EA agrees $1.2 billion acquisition of Codemasters

Didn't see a thread for this.

Take2 originally made a pitch for them for $800 Million, and as far as acquisitions go, I was pretty in favor of it. Take2 is rolling in GTA money that they could put towards Codemasters stable of racing games, their marketing is top notch, and their portfolio was lacking in the racing genre.

Seems EA felt it made too much sense as well, as they got on the horn and made a bid of 1.2 Billion, which was enough to make Take2 back off.

So now Codemasters will join Criterion under the EA banner, making EA essentially the dominant power in racing games by adding the F1 License, the DiRT rally franchise, the Project CARS simulation series, as well as games like GRID. Given the announcement awhile ago that Criterion was going to be working on the Need for Speed series again (they haven't been since NFS Most Wanted on 360/PS3), will be interested to see if these games are rebranded as NFS titles as well (aside from F1 of course). Need for Speed: Rally or some such.

So basically, you've got the Sony exclusive (Gran Turismo), the Microsoft exclusive (Forza) and EA. Those are your choices for major racing game franchises.

Wish they would have used some of the billion dollars to get a real team to make an NHL game...

 

[JaegerDice]

Wish they would have used some of the billion dollars to get a real team to make an NHL game...

I'm pretty sure the F1 game sells better worldwide than the NHL game.

NHL games will get better when the NHL gets better at making people care about their game around the world. Unfortunately, it's a league and a culture that is very much against the idea of stars, and is staunchly against calling the game to ensure those stars get to show off their skill as much as possible. They'd prefer rules that ensure 3rd and 4th line grinders get secure employment.

When the NHL is bigger and better, the NHL games will be bigger and better. And hell, at that point, EA won't be the only company making NHL games. There's currently nobody stopping anybody else from paying for the license and making an NHL game... nobody wants to. EA is the only company that's like 'sure, what the hell, it helps our overall brand to keep this in our portfolio'.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

I'm pretty sure the F1 game sells better worldwide than the NHL game.

Well that's not surprising because their NHL game is trash lmao.

 

[JaegerDice]

Well that's not surprising because their NHL game is trash lmao.

The NHL game was arguably the best sports game on the market in 2008 and 2009. It won many Sports game of the year awards. Didn't sell.

The game doesn't get a ton of investment or care, because the market isn't there. Not vice versa.

 

[RCGP2]

The NHL game was arguably the best sports game on the market in 2008 and 2009. It won many Sports game of the year awards. Didn't sell.

The game doesn't get a ton of investment or care, because the market isn't there. Not vice versa.

So why is Madden garbage now? That sells lots

 

[JaegerDice]

So why is Madden garbage now? That sells lots

Madden gets more attention and investment, even if the results aren't good.

The biggest issue with most of EA's titles is the company-wide mandate to adopt Frostbite, the in-house engine developed by DICE that's great for shooters and not much else. But EA would rather force their developers to use that than pay for a 3rd party engine like Unreal , or have each team pay to build their own engine from scratch. Pretty much every series has suffered from that, outside of arguably FIFA, cause it gets both the most money and the best talent.

For the investment the NHL team gets, the product they produce is actually quite good.