Take-Two Interactive has confirmed it's interested in acquiring the British developer Codemasters, known for its highly-regarded racing series' including Dirt, Dirt Rally and the Formula One franchise of games.
According to Video Games Chronicle, Codemasters said in an internal statement earlier today that Take-Two had made a non-binding proposal to acquire the entire share capital of the company, and its board intended to unanimously recommend that shareholders accept the offer, should it be made official.
In response, Take-Two told VGC that it felt "the combination of Take-Two and Codemasters would bring together two world-class interactive entertainment portfolios, with a highly complementary fit between 2K and Codemasters in the racing genre."
GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that the offer would value the company at £739.19 million ($973.48 million). No final offer has been made as of yet though, so we'll have to wait and see how this develops.
How would you feel about this acquisition? Give us your thoughts down in the comments below.
[source videogameschronicle.com, via gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 12
I hope Codemasters don't agree. They are a great company as is and don't need a parent company like take two. This would spell disaster for the Dirt series and F1 games.
Great. So Codemasters games will have live ads in them now? 😂
Coming next summer: F1 2K21, miscrotransactioned to hell. No thanks.
@gollumb82
I’ll give Take Two one thing.....they own the BioShock franchise & I desperately want a new game in that series.
@gollumb82
Good point. BioShock 2 was the weakest of the trilogy & no Ken Levine. I still liked it though. It’s held up pretty well compared to games these days. It just really had an impossible act to follow after the legendary original BioShock.
And that’s a great point about Arcane. I would love to see a BioShock like shooter from them. I haven’t played Prey yet, but I heard great things about it & look forward to then being an Microsoft 1st party studio! 👍🏻
I don't like this... Codemasters are one company I've been buying games from for two decades. Way back to Colin McRae Rally. 2K have shown a real greed with the NBA series and a real lack of quality with the WWE series. I would hate for one of my all time favourite developer/publisher to be lost to a Microtransaction focussed American Dollar first company.
Probably go the way of the excellent Criterion Games
I simply can't believe that codemasters need more money at the moment
@ultraviolet Didn't they acquire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slightly_Mad_Studios for $30 million?
@Vincent294 Yeap sure did
@gollumb82
I thought the eco engine was great. I had noticed Codemasters games drop very quickly in price, which for me is a good thing. But maybe for them a sign of bad sales. It'll be the end of an era which will be sad. This gen Codemasters were my favourite developer with the Dirt and F1 games
@graysoncharles
If that's the case, it's a pity. I like them as they are. A small developer like Codemasters is more about people. If a few key people leave because of the acquisition it'll spell the end. That is my fear.
@gollumb82
The did get attacked by a minority of outraged "so called gamers" for releasing DLC for Dirt rally 2.0 who took to review sites without even having played the game to vent their anger, but their little assault lost steam. You can actually pick up the complete game with all dlc for about €20. I had so much fun playing Dirt rally and 2.0. I could only describe them as Stunt race FX (the old SNES game which I also loved) on steroids.
I think Dirt rally 3.0 could be positively mind blowing if they can continue the trend they started this generation.
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