After the studio’s board of directors voted in favor of approving the purchase this week, Codmasters’ takeover of EA is all but sealed.
At the court meeting, 63 of the 76 shareholders of Codemasters (representing 99% of the shares held) approved EA’s takeover bid. With the board’s approval sealed, the takeover deal is now awaiting a formal court hearing on 16 February. Should everyone go to plan, the acquisition of EA should be cemented by the end of spring.
EA was certainly a letcomer in the bid to acquire Kodmasters. Before EA swooped down with EA’s high offering, racing devs were previously in talks to be bought by Take-Two for about a billion dollars. Take-Two later dropped out of the race, leaving EA free to follow through with its acquisition plans,
The arrival of Codmasters will give EA some more serious-minded franchises to sit alongside Need for Speed and (Criminal Sleep-On) Burnout. But apart from ‘F1 and Dirt Series’, Kodmasters also brings project car developer Gray Mad, which it acquired in 2019. It will also pay to see if EA has any interest in reviving the Operation Flashpoint series, the precursor owned by Codemasters. For Arma military-sim of Bohemia.
EA’s racing output currently comes down to a new requirement for speed once every two years, with the series now in the norm. But during Tuesday’s earnings call, EA said it intends to use the Codemasters acquisition to pitch itself as “a global leader in racing entertainment,” with the ability to put new “racing experiences” on an annual basis is.
Somewhere in EA’s earnings call, the publisher insisted that it still had big plans for Star Wars — despite losing its exclusive rights to the franchise. EA is also “very confident” in Bio’s future, despite recent bombs from mass effect manufacturers.