$40B US-based video games giant EA has foiled Take-Two’s plans to acquire Codemasters, after making a higher bid. 

Early this morning, Electronic Arts (EA) announced that it has reached an agreement with the Board of Codemasters for the recommended acquisition of the UK-based game developer and publisher.

The transaction will see Codemasters’ shareholders receive 604 pence (approximately US$7.98) for each ordinary share, giving the company an implied enterprise value of $1.2B USD. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021. 

Commenting on the news Chairman of Codemasters, Gerhard Florin, said:

“Electronic Arts and Codemasters have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category. The Board of Codemasters firmly believes the company would benefit from EA’s knowledge, resources and extensive global scale – both overall and specifically within the racing sector. 

“We feel this union would provide an exciting and prosperous future for Codemasters, allowing our teams to create, launch and service bigger and better games to an extremely passionate audience.”

While CEO of Electronic Arts, Andrew Wilson, added:

“We believe there is a deeply compelling opportunity in bringing together Codemasters and Electronic Arts to create amazing and innovative new racing games for fans. Our industry is growing, the racing category is growing, and together we will be positioned to lead in a new era of racing entertainment. 

“We have admired Codemasters’ creative talent and high-quality games for many years. With the full leverage of EA’s technology, platform expertise, and global reach, this combination will allow us to grow our existing franchises and deliver more industry-defining racing experiences to a global fan base. 

“We are pleased that both our Boards of Directors are recommending this transaction, and we look forward to welcoming such an exciting and talented team to the Electronic Arts family.”

Codemasters is well-known for its popular sim racing games, including Dirt 5, Dirt Rally 2.0, Project Cars 3, Fast & Furious Crossroads, F1 2020, F1 2019, F1 2018, F1 Mobile Racing, Grid, and Onrush. 

As reported last month, Codemasters had previously agreed to an acquisition by US-based Take-Two Interactive Software, in a $980M USD deal. Take-Two’s popular titles including the NBA 2K series, Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the WWE series. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Ouch, that sucks for Take-Two, whose acquisition of Codemasters would have instantly catapulted it up the scale considerably, but, who can resist the might of EA?

It will be interesting to see where Codemasters goes under EA’s leadership – will we see entirely new titles, or just the development of the existing hugely successful ones, especially regarding esports? Interesting times, and once again, the move shows how despite the world facing an unprecedented economic crisis, the video games industry is on fire. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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