EA set to pay $1.2 billion for Codemasters and its stable of racing games

Enlarge / Just some of the games that are set to become part of the EA umbrella early next year. (credit: Codemasters)

The board of directors for British developer Codemasters has reached a purchase agreement with Electronic Arts which would sell the company to the mega-publisher for an estimated $1.2 billion (or just under $8 a share) in early 2021.

The deal would put Codemasters' popular racing-game franchises-including DiRT/DiRT Rally, Grid, F1, and Project CARS (which Codemasters acquired in 2019)-under the same umbrella as EA's Need for Speed, Burnout, and mobile-focused Real Racing. That's not quite a monopoly in the genre-thanks in large part to console exclusives like Microsoft's Forza Motorsport and Sony's Gran Turismo-but it's as close as you're likely to find for any major genre in gaming.

More than that, the acquisition reflects a continuing trend toward consolidation among the game industry's biggest publishers. That's a trend that includes Microsoft's purchase of Bethesda Softworks (as well as other smaller studios in 2018); Sony's purchase of Insomniac Games last year (and the stated potential for more acquisitions to come); and Epic Games' purchase of Rocket League developer Psyonix, to name just a few.

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