EA Trying to Buyout Codemasters

cameltosis

Saw this over on Eurogamer

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-12-14-ea-overtakes-take-two-with-usd1-2bn-offer-for-codemasters

Take Two (GTA publisher/owner) recently offered to buyout Codemasters, but it looks like EA is now trying to get in on the action and have now offered more money to buy Codies. The board have provisionally accepted EA's offer, but Take Two may come back with another offer and obviously the shareholders have to approve.

I'm a fan of Codemasters (as well as former employee) so not particularly happy with the news. I don't want to see EA destroy yet another studio, especially as Codemasters has been doing pretty well recently. Their latest F1 game is one of their best, the last Grid game was their best since the original and their Dirt games seems to have been doing OK. Also, loved it when Codemasters hosted LotRO in Europe, they did a much better job than Turbine.

Codies also bought out Slight Mad Studios last year, giving them access to the Project Cars team and their excellent sim racing expertise.

So, kinda feel like this buyout is totally unneccessary right now and is highly unlikely to result in better quality games being made, just more money for the shareholders. I've always been a big fan of what I consider to be mid-tier developers - those with the money to make some good games but not so much money that they become totally risk averse. It is these mid-tier devs that keep getting bought-out and it's frustrating!

TwistedSister77

Torval said:

Are publishers bad for buying out a studio or are studios just sellouts? Unless it's a hostile takeover of a public company studios are just as much or more at fault for selling out from my end.

Has EA really destroyed studios or did they do it to themselves? For example, Bioware was arguably on the road to stagnation when EA bought them out. If anything big publishers like EA and Microsoft give too much control to studios allowing them to hang themselves with poor project and budget management. Then studios cry to their impressionable and impassioned fans that "mom and dad" spanked them after imposing unrealistic expectations. I have a hard time sympathizing with an industry with such a history of living large until it comes time to deliver the goods and pay the bills.

I agree.  Studios are businesses, businesses have owners.  If the want or need to sell... well that's their decision.  Believe it or not, many factors go into that decision (long term viability, employee welfare... but make no bones.. of course $$).

If it's a hostile takeover of a traded studio... different.

cameltosis

Totally understandable from a business point of view. Many reasons to sell out. Hell, even if I owned the company myself and I loved it, if someone like EA (who i hate) came along and offered me many millions, I'd probably sellout too.

But, im not the business, im a consumer, so im only looking at it from a consumers point of view. EA specifically has a terrible history with buyouts, can't think of a single franchise or studio that has done better under their leadership.

I obviously don't know the reasons Codemasters are considering selling their company. They aren't struggling financially, they're still making good games and they've been expanding their business in recent years. From outside appearances, it looks like Codemaster's recent success has simply attracted the attention of the big players, they've spotted an opportunity to bring a profitable studio under their umbrella and so have made an offer. Legally, that offer has to be taken to the shareholders, who stand to make a decent chunk of money from that offer so are naturally inclined to accept it.

Scorchien

Great move , add to the stable EA

Palebane

I used to really dislike EA, but I find myself agreeing with many of their moves lately. Hopefully they have their shit together finally.

Po_gg

cameltosis said:

Also, loved it when Codemasters hosted LotRO in Europe, they did a much better job than Turbine.

Very much so, loved the Codies years! Faya was such a great GM...

The offers make sense, Take2 wants to expand and EA wants to engulf yet another sport section (F1, and rally/rallycross - though in that Codies don't have the license, Dirt still used to be better than the actual WRC game).

However, I share your concerns. EA was awesome at start ('80s and first half of the '90s) but the EA of present is at the bottom of the barrel.

By their raised counter-offer it seems they really want to put their hands on Codies, maybe it's the F1 boost this year, due to Covid the esport championship had record views as I remember.

(not that Take2 would be a much better end result, just in comparison with EA )

Gorwe

In the end, having entirely too big corporations like EA or ActiBlizz isn't good for us. Competition is, but that's just what these mergers stifle: competition and change. And that's bad for us.

FrodoFragins

Torval said:

Are publishers bad for buying out a studio or are studios just sellouts? Unless it's a hostile takeover of a public company studios are just as much or more at fault for selling out from my end.

Has EA really destroyed studios or did they do it to themselves? For example, Bioware was arguably on the road to stagnation when EA bought them out. If anything big publishers like EA and Microsoft give too much control to studios allowing them to hang themselves with poor project and budget management. Then studios cry to their impressionable and impassioned fans that "mom and dad" spanked them after imposing unrealistic expectations. I have a hard time sympathizing with an industry with such a history of living large until it comes time to deliver the goods and pay the bills.

Studios in general are just sellouts, but they can be strong armed at times. 

Who knows what would of happened if Condor never sold out to Blizzard and became Blizzard North.  Once it was clear they no longer had autonomy, thanks to french ownership, they had to bail and abandon their beloved Diablo IP.

Ideally companies would keep majority ownership and just let investors buyout a minority take.

Scot

What have EA got instore for Codemasters to do? It has to be Anthem 2, lets pass that poison chalice from one company we have acquired to another to see if we can kill them off.

kitarad

Didn't Codemasters have something to do with Lord of the Rings Online at some point or I may be confusing them with another company.

Po_gg

kitarad said:

Didn't Codemasters have something to do with Lord of the Rings Online at some point or I may be confusing them with another company.

Just scroll up a bit

Po_gg said:

cameltosis said:

Also, loved it when Codemasters hosted LotRO in Europe, they did a much better job than Turbine.

Very much so, loved the Codies years! Faya was such a great GM...

Codies handled LotRO in EU, from launch until the f2p switch when Turbine kicked them to the curb and took the EU servers over the ocean (never explained why but probably to have all the profit from the cash shop in-house).

Community-wise they did a much better job, both on the forums and in the game, especially for the RP.

Turbine only anointed Landy as one after the US players asked for it, with the example of EU's 3 RP servers - and even then they only went with roleplay-encouraged and not with an actual roleplay ruleset...

Scot

Po_gg said:

kitarad said:

Didn't Codemasters have something to do with Lord of the Rings Online at some point or I may be confusing them with another company.

Just scroll up a bit

Po_gg said:

cameltosis said:

Also, loved it when Codemasters hosted LotRO in Europe, they did a much better job than Turbine.

Very much so, loved the Codies years! Faya was such a great GM...

Codies handled LotRO in EU, from launch until the f2p switch when Turbine kicked them to the curb and took the EU servers over the ocean (never explained why but probably to have all the profit from the cash shop in-house).

Community-wise they did a much better job, both on the forums and in the game, especially for the RP.

Turbine only anointed Landy as one after the US players asked for it, with the example of EU's 3 RP servers - and even then they only went with roleplay-encouraged and not with an actual roleplay ruleset...

Once again my disregard for noticing gaming companies shows through, these are the guys who did a stellar job back in the day in Lotro. They offered a far better service as Po_gg says. I know it makes no business sense to give them a crap project, but EA has form of doing just that, I hope they get something decent, they deserve it.

Po_gg

Scot said:

What have EA got instore for Codemasters to do? It has to be Anthem 2, lets pass that poison chalice from one company we have acquired to another to see if we can kill them off.

I doubt they want to pass over anything, hence I used "engulf" above.

Since Codies (on surface*) is similar to EA's sport lineup, probably they just want to have them under the EA label, with their license too.

*On the surface: they too might look like they just reskin and then re-release their games each year, with the current year on the title   however Codies actually updates the games too.

I'm just a hobby racer with a basic wheel, can't really vouch for the better slipstream effect, the downforce differences at overtakes, and the improved tire handling in F1 2020 compared to the 2019 version... but I trust the opinions of the e-championship drivers on this matter.

Cleffy

EA, where game studios go to die.

AlBQuirky

Cleffy said:

EA, where game studios go to die.

What's the body count up to now?

Scorchien

remsleep said:

Scorchien said:

Great move , add to the stable  drowning pool EA

Fixed that for ya

Hmm ,  for me its been a great jump in the pool as i bought into EA in 2008 when the stock dropped to 15$ ..

 For them and the consumers .. EA has sold more units of games than any other Pub ..  And its not even close

 Someone is buying all these games and enjoying them .. Im certain there is some in your collection over the years ..

 Or do you meaning drowning as they hit there all time high this year at 143$

 Or do you mean that all the houses they purchased got exactly what they wanted and knew what they were being merged into ..And were paid well for .. They are also drowning in money ..

Wizardry

It has been quite a few years but i was certain codemasters were responsible for the brutal publishing job of Lineage 2 in NA.I couldn't find any proof of that but no idea who i am might be confusing Codemasters with because the name stuck with me for a lot of years as being a bad gaming business.
So then i looked over their games list and took me 3 passes to spot the game....Rising Force.

Codemasters has quite an extensive list of games of which i didn't like any of them so not exactly a top end producer.So the game was Rising Force not Lineage 2.That game alone pretty much showed how lazy Codemasters is in developing games.

So for me personally,IDC what or who buys codemasters,not a developer i want to support.I suspect the agreement has already been made as a verbal contract 1.2 billion to EA looks good 2 sketchy operations under one roof now.

cameltosis

Wizardry said:

It has been quite a few years but i was certain codemasters were responsible for the brutal publishing job of Lineage 2 in NA.I couldn't find any proof of that but no idea who i am might be confusing Codemasters with because the name stuck with me for a lot of years as being a bad gaming business.
So then i looked over their games list and took me 3 passes to spot the game....Rising Force.

Codemasters has quite an extensive list of games of which i didn't like any of them so not exactly a top end producer.So the game was Rising Force not Lineage 2.That game alone pretty much showed how lazy Codemasters is in developing games.

So for me personally,IDC what or who buys codemasters,not a developer i want to support.I suspect the agreement has already been made as a verbal contract 1.2 billion to EA looks good 2 sketchy operations under one roof now.

Codemasters are not what I'd call a AAA studio, they're what I consider a mid-tier studio. There used to be loads of mid-tier studios and they always seems to make my favourite games, but people like EA have been buying them out and gutting them for too long now.

The thing I always loved about mid-tier studios is they are willing to take risks. Not all of them work out, some are complete crap, but that willingness to take risks does at least occasionally result in excellent games....more often than the AAA studios.

As for Rising Force, I had to look that up as I didn't recognise it. Codemasters were just a local publisher, they had nothing to do with the development so the quality of the game isn't really on them, only the quality of the customer support in the regions where they published (just like when Codemasters were EU publisher for LotRO....and did a superior job compared to Turbine, even though codies had nothing to do with the development of the game).

Admittedly, Codemasters has been getting bigger over the last few years and has, therefore, been getting more risk-averse. Its been a long time since they took a risk and developed anything outside of racing games. So, maybe a buyout was inevitable.

Abimor

Just looking ahead F1 players will want career updates or fixes and instead EA will give them a sponge bob sponsored car, billboards, and track. I buy EA games a few of them at least I enjoyed the last dragon age and I bought the star wars squadrons but they way they handle their yearly release like Madden is atrocious when you have fixe franchise trending at 1 and then put in sponge bob content it makes it hard to believe the we don't have then team or money to fix things this year bs they feed you.

The funny thing is Madden franchise used to be so good and now every year they reduce it. so i hope they do not get Codemasters as F1 is a great racing game.