Following the Codemasters Acquisition, EA Games Plans New Racing Games Annually

In light of EA Games’ recent acquisition of the British game developers, Codemasters, the company now plans to release a new racing game every year. With this, EA hopes to come at par with its other sports franchises.

EA highlighted the motive behind the company’s acquisition of Codemasters in a Q3 financial year report they released on February 2, 2021. EA CEO Andrew Wilson termed racing as “one of the few truly global sports” during the company’s earnings call. The company expects to increase its presence in the racing forum globally through the acquisition.

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Potential strategy behind EA Games acquiring Codemasters

CEO Andrew Wilson looks forward to make EA a global leader in racing entertainment. He shows how his organisation and Codemaster could both co-exist under each other’s umbrella. While Codemaster will bring experienced “game teams, technology and IP to EA” to the table, attaching their name with EA Games would open many avenues for the former.

On Value Basis

Codemasters’ team will get absolute access to EA’s technology, central services, marketing resources, and most importantly, its 330 million strong player base. The wide audience facility of EA will abundantly increase Codemasters’ total addressable market.

The presentation also adds that the acquisition,

“Will improve and accelerate development and innovation, and the identification and adoption of best practices; will enable cross-fertilization of ideas, expertise and technology between the racing development teams of the combined group.”

Competition Faced During Codemasters’ Acquisition

EA showed interest in acquiring Codemasters publicly in the months starting. The value was initially $1 billion from Take Two Interactive, the US based company that owns Rockstar Games and 2 Games. But later on EA games stepped into the buyer’s list and raised the fund to $1.2 billion. Take Two Interactive backed off at this point and thus, EA Games gained Codemasters.

EA currently has Need for Speed, Burnout and Real Racing running. Codemasters has various franchises in the market including F1, WRC, Dirt, Grid and Project Cars. However, it is safe to assume that there will be a release of at least one racing game release by the end of the year. The deal is expected to be closed by the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Fans from both ends of the acquisition expect significant development in all existing games. Perhaps by Q2 of the financial year, both companies will release the biggest collaborative racing game ever. Elements from both their market hit titles in one game will be an amazing treat for gamers. Until then, let’s wait for their next announcement of the deal or any upcoming racing game.