EA completes its $1.2 billion USD purchase of Codemasters

Electronic Arts has announced that is has succesfully completed its $1.2 billion USD deal to acquire British developer Codemasters.

The deal went through with EA paying 604 pence ($8.37 USD) in cash for each share, with an implied enterprise value of $1.2 billion USD. The press release calls the deal "an exciting new era in racing game entertainment" and will allow both companies to "be positioned to bring fans a regular cadence of new and exciting racing content, in addition to reaching across more platforms and more regions of the world."

Naturally, there's quotes from both sides, with EA CEO Andrew Wilson saying "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."

Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier added: "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."

Take Two were originally set to buy the DiRT 5 studio when they opened talks back in November, until EA swooped in with a higher counter offer a month later. Codemasters brings along its many racing brands under the EA banner, including the DiRT series and DiRT Rally sub-series, the GRID games, the official Formula 1 license and Project CARS.