Take-Two, the parent company of brands such as 2K Sports, Rockstar Games, and Private Division, is closing a deal with Codemasters to acquire the studio directly. The news was first reported yesterday as rumor before being confirmed today.
Take-Two's intent is to diversify its portfolio and use Codemasters' decades of experience in the racing genre specifically to give it a greater presence in that area. The sale was agreed upon with a price of £725m or roughly $980m, just shy of a billion dollars for the team behind games such as Dirt, Onrush, and Micro Machines. In a statement (thanks VGC), Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick explained the publisher's thought process behind the acquisition.
"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."
It was only last year that Codemasters itself acquired Slightly Mad Studios, the team most famous for the Project Cars series. The team's most recently released effort is Dirt 5, which launched last week on Xbox One, PS4, and PC and arrives this week on the new consoles too. It garnered "Strong" scores from critics, today boasting an 82 average.
Other series from Codemasters include F1, Dirt Rally, Grid, Fast and Furious Crossroads, and Project Cars. The acquisition already has some fans hoping Codemasters will revive Rockstar's Midnight Club, but we'll have to wait and see if that's at all realistic.
