Codemasters Become Newest EA Studio

As we reported back in December, EA have finally acquired Codemasters for approximately $1.2 billion. 

Frank Sagnier, CEO of Codemasters, said this:

Today is a landmark in Codemasters’ history, and an exciting day for our employees and players. The partnership with EA will enable our teams to take our highly-acclaimed franchises to new heights and reach a huge global audience through their player network. Together we can redefine the landscape of racing games to create even more compelling experiences for racing fans around the world.

This brings the popular DIRT and F1 brands under the EA Sports umbrella, as Codemasters joins other studios such as Respawn Entertainment, DICE and Criterion Games. 

Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts added:

This is the beginning of an exciting new era for racing games and content as we bring together the talented teams at Electronic Arts and Codemasters. Racing fandom continues to grow worldwide, and the franchises in our combined portfolio will enable us to create innovative new experiences and bring more players into the excitement of cars and motorsport. Our teams will be a global powerhouse in racing entertainment, with amazing games for players on every platform, and we can’t wait to get started.

The press release ends with the statement that "The acquisition of Codemasters was financed with cash on hand.", which implies that EA didn't have to do any financial juggling, they just so happened to have over a billion dollars laying around to do this deal.

Of course, when we find out what Codemasters' first official Electronic Arts production is, we'll let you know.