It has finally happened: Electronic Arts has won the race to purchase the popular driving title developer, Codemasters.

EA Buys Codemasters

After a tug of war that has gone on for several months, EA emerges the victor as it snatches Codemasters from the hands of Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two was previously on the cards to buy Codemasters, but that purchase failed when EA showed up with the credit card.

Instead, the brand behind some of the biggest sports franchises has just netted Codemasters for a cool $1.2 billion. This opens up EA's catalog of sporting titles to include racing games, too; something that we're sure EA is incredibly excited about.

What Does the EA Buyout Mean for Codemasters?

Well, obviously this is significant news for Codemasters and EA. It means that EA takes ownership of Codemasters current intellectual property, so franchises like DIRT and the Formula One games, for example.

Electronic Arts and Codemasters released a joint statement on Business Wire, with both seeming suitably buoyant. Gerhard Florin, Codemasters' Chair, said:

Electronic Arts and Codemasters have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category. The Board of Codemasters firmly believes the company would benefit from EA’s knowledge, resources, and extensive global scale—both overall and specifically within the racing sector. We feel this union would provide an exciting and prosperous future for Codemasters, allowing our teams to create, launch and service bigger and better games to an extremely passionate audience.

Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA, is full of praise for Codemasters:

We believe there is a deeply compelling opportunity in bringing together Codemasters and Electronic Arts to create amazing and innovative new racing games for fans. Our industry is growing, the racing category is growing, and together we will be positioned to lead in a new era of racing entertainment. We have admired Codemasters’ creative talent and high-quality games for many years.

He goes on to state how well he sees the partnership working out, from both perspectives:

With the full leverage of EA’s technology, platform expertise, and global reach, this combination will allow us to grow our existing franchises and deliver more industry-defining racing experiences to a global fan base. We are pleased that both our Boards of Directors are recommending this transaction, and we look forward to welcoming such an exciting and talented team to the Electronic Arts family.

So, everything seems to have gone down well on both sides of the camp. Codemasters will benefit from having EA at the helm, driving future titles forward with the knowledge it has amassed since 1982.

Likewise, EA will benefit from a significantly larger game library, alongside the opportunity to develop and publish titles from a wide range of some of the world's most popular racing franchises.

Have We Entered an Age of Takeovers?

What with Microsoft's Bethesda buyout and now EA grabbing Codemasters, what does this spell for other game developers. There are only so many of them, and this buyout behavior could lead to monopolies in the game development and publishing industry.

Right now, everything looks fine, though. EA will continue to release games for PC and console. Only this time with the bonus of Codemasters titles (which will be music to the ears of EA Play subscribers).