Update: It's happening. Take-Two has confirmed that it is indeed buying Codemasters for £759 million (US$994 million). The deal should be done by the first quarter of 2021.
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has said the following about the deal:
We are exceedingly pleased to announce this recommended transaction with the board of Codemasters. Codemasters has a renowned history of creating some of our industry’s most beloved and commercially successful racing franchises, and we believe that their offerings will be highly complementary to our sports portfolio and enhance further our organization’s long-term growth. Moreover, we look forward to welcoming Codemasters’ senior management and development teams into our Take-Two family, and sharing in our vision to deliver the highest quality entertainment experiences and aim to be the most innovative, creative and efficient company in our industry.
Codemasters' Gerhard Florin is pretty pleased, too – he added:
With a leading position in sports gaming, the board of Codemasters firmly believes the company will benefit from Take-Two’s broad capabilities which will help propel the long term success of Codemasters. In recommending this Offer to shareholders, the board of Codemasters believes it is in the best interests of all stakeholders in the company.
Original Story [Mon 9th Nov, 2020 13:30 GMT]: Publishing giant Take-Two is in talks to purchase UK industry veteran Codemasters, it has been revealed.
Codemasters – which began back in the '80s and is famous for titles such as Micro Machines, Dizzy, DIRT, GRID and the ongoing official F1 video game series – has confirmed to its investors that discussions are ongoing.
A non-binding offer is on the table which would buy the company for 485 pence per share; 120 pence of that total would be paid in cash, while the remainder would be made up of shares in Take-Two itself.
Take-Two has issued the following statement on the proposed deal:
Take-Two believes that the combination of Take-Two and Codemasters would bring together two world-class interactive entertainment portfolios, with a highly complementary fit between Take-Two’s 2K publishing label and Codemasters in the racing genre.
In addition, Take-Two believes that it can bring benefits to Codemasters’ performance by leveraging Take-Two’s global distribution network and 2K’s core operating expertise in publishing, including live operations, analytics, product development, and brand and performance marketing.
It is understood that Codemasters' board of directors will recommend that the company accepts the deal, and Take-Two has until December 4th to make a binding offer. Codemasters is valued at £662.98 million; Take-Two’s offer values it at £739.19 million.
Codemasters hasn't been all that active on Switch – we've only seen GRID Autosport make the leap over to Nintendo's console – but the company's history with Nintendo systems is notable; legal action was famously (and unsuccessfully) taken against the company by Nintendo when it released its Game Genie "enhancement" device back in the early '90s.
[source mcvuk.com]
Comments 39
Good for them! But matters to us only if it would mean something for Switch.
Could be a good situation for them both but I still prefer to have as many independent studios as possible as monopolies are bad.
Still hope they bring Dirt over (any of them in the series doesn't have to be the newest) but last time I asked them they said it wasn't in the plans so far.
This means microtransactions is forced into their games among other things and lack of freedom. Expect Dirt 2K21, Dirt 2K22, Dirt 2K23 etc.
If 2K Games is buying Codemasters, i'm done with CM.
This is the only site where i seen people that are positive to this bad news.
If Microsoft didn't have Forza series, they would probably be interrested too.
Interesting so can we expect a Micro Machine GTA crossover someday?
@Ventilator Yeh. From my naive perspective, I don't see how this deal would improve CodeMasters' output.
While I'm here I'm obliged to just reiterate my desire for a physical release of Grid Autosport and an F1 game.
@Retro_Player_77 Isn't that GTA 1 & 2?
Hopefully they would bring back Dizzy if the merger happens. I've written to Codemasters before and their response was that they didnt think it would sell.
Whatever happened to GRID getting a physical release for Switch?
Take-Two are an awful company... I'm not into this at all
A big American games publisher buying one of the leading UK games companies is not a good thing in my opinion. The UK needs to retain a strong domestic sector of independent software businesses.
@gcunit 2K Games do release physical versions for Switch at least.
Since Microsoft bought Bethesda, 2K Games is actually now the #1 third party AAA publisher on Switch.
@Slowdive Some is worse than others.
At this point THQ Nordic and Microsoft is the best publishers for the gamers.
@thiswaynow Hasn't it been this way since the pound declined in value? (And I'd love to mention the reason why, but the mods are a bit sensitive about that...)
While I'm here I'm obliged to just reiterate my desire for a physical release of Grid Autosport
@gcunit Seriously. Of all the Switch games yet to appear on a game card, this is my most anticipated title. I WILL PRE-ORDER A PHYSICAL COPY OR TWO, and I never pre-order. In the absence of F-Zero and other modern AAA racing efforts on Switch (OK, yes, I know about Fast RMX and Redout...), I have been waiting to acknowledge a good effort by CM with an actual, you know, purchase...
I "imagine" this is all good for all existing staff, to be fair.
Personally I think this is bad as they have been the only really big UK publisher left for a long time and even though they just make racing games now their output has been consistent for the past decade.
God I really hope not.
I remember when Codemasters were a bit more varied a developer, before every game they developed was based around a vehicle with 4 wheels.
Dirt games probably need Cloud streaming to come to switch. Would you play?
Linus Spacehead reboot!
Can't wait for half a Micro Machines game on a way too small 2GB cartridge.
Urgh. Take Two are one of the dodgiest publishers out there with their awful business practices and Codemasters are going to become just another MTX-loving corporate nightmare.
Remember having a lot of fun with Cannon Fodder on the Game Boy Color. Anyone else remember that game?
Love Code Master games. F1 20 is fantastic this year. I have no issue with this if they want to add a new mode with micro transactions but if they start interfering with existing modes i will have a problem.
Similar to the movie industry, we will eventually get to a point where every major publisher is owned by 2 or 3 US corporations. The benefits of capitalism cannot be disputed, but endgame corporatism is bad for everyone.
I'm not sure why this is seen as good news. It's another nail in the coffin of the UK's once vibrant game industry.
Rare, Psygnosis, Eidos/ Core Design, DMA Design (among many others) and now Codemasters have all been absorbed into foreign multinationals and are a shadow of their former selves, if not disbanded completely.
Ah Codemasters, they made my favourite racing game on the Mega Drive - Micromachines.
Also all the Dizzy games on the C64, hmmmm
Oh dear I don’t think this is a good thing
@Bunkerneath yes what a laugh that was 😆 I played at a friends house
Well this sucks it was bad enough when Codemasters bought Slightly Mad Studios a few months ago. Just another company who's games are riddled with Microtransactions and are best avoided. Codemasters isn't the great company they used to be in the 90s.
@Slowdive
Agreed. Large corporations can easily lobby governments to do their bidding that an SME just couldn't do.
Bad news, soon there will only be a few independent companies left.
Oh, nice. More monopolization. This is cool and normal.
if we are lucky take 2 will rerelease older codemasters games on the switch like codemasters just did for the evercade . Seymour , dizzy ,tilt , Micro Machines, toca, James Pond , dirt and Colin McRae Rally would be nice.
One of the last 80's developers to be swallowed up by an uncaring entity. While Codies didn't always bring their best to the table, I liked that they were still around against the big guns. I hope they don't get turned into Rockstar Southam or something like that! It still smarts to see Psygnosis become Sony Liverpool.
I hope Team 17 are left alone.
Wow, Codemasters is a lot more valuable than I would have guessed.
I like how people ignore the part where the board and owners of Codemasters sold the company and that they have MTX for ages on their games lmao
MTX, MTX, MTX, MTX
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