A few days ago, Take-Two Interactive expressed its desire to pick up Codemasters, the UK-based game developer. The publisher priced the acquisition at a cost of $973 million, and was set to inquire about a takeover. Now, the acquisition has received the go ahead as the two companies agree to a deal worth $994 million.
That figure won’t be paid straight up, as it’s split between a cash price and shares cost. It’s still a considerable amount though, as Take-Two looks to expand into 2021. Codemasters is a racing specialist team, and it consistently releases high-quality titles across multiple different series. The recently released Dirt 5 came out of its Cheshire studio, who will of course be included in the deal.
As will Slightly Mad Studios, a team that Codemasters recently took over. Slightly Mad Studios is responsible for the Project Cars franchise, a series which is now set to become a Take-Two property. Codemasters’ other franchises include Grid, F1, Onrush, and from the 2023/2024 seasons onwards, the WRC games.
Take-Two will no doubt be licking its chops at the quantity and quality of Codemasters’ output. Sure, not every game the team releases is a straight 10, but Codemasters delivers consistent quality in the racing field. Take-Two also heads up a strong sports games division, and sees this deal as a way to bolster that output. Over the last half a decade alone, Codemasters has launched six F1 games, four Dirt games, Micro Machines World Series, Onrush and Grid 2019.
A mighty price
There’s been some pretty big deals in the games industry as of late, with this being the latest. While $994 million sure is a pretty penny to pay, a certain deal that occurred back in September eclipses most. Microsoft is in the process of acquiring ZeniMax Media, the owners of Bethesda, for a whopping $7.5 billion.
While this deal might not be as lucrative as Microsoft’s ZeniMax purchase, Take-Two Interactive is surely hoping that Codemasters can solidify the company as a big player in the racing field.
Please note that all pricing is in USD.
Published: Nov 10, 2020 12:30 pm