Electronic Arts to buy Codemasters for USD$1.2 billion

Electronic Arts is buying British game developer Codemasters for USD$1.2 billion, the company announced earlier today.

EA’s proposed purchase is 20%+ higher than the USD$976 million Take-Two Interactive had agreed to acquire Codemasters for.

According to EA’s press release, the deal should be completed by the first quarter of 2021.

What remains to be known is if Take-Two will respond to Electronic Arts’ proposed purchase, Sky News said yesterday.

If Take-Two Interactive does not present a higher proposal, Codemasters’ franchises, such as F1, Grid, and Dirt, would become property of EA.

“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,” said Gerhard Florin, chairman at Codemasters.

[Sources]: EA: Electronic Arts Reaches Agreement for Recommended Acquisition of Codemasters Group Holdings PLC. Sky News: Games giant Electronic Arts gatecrashes £725m Codemasters takeover.