With Codemasters on board, EA Sports plans annual racing games

DiRT Rally 2.0

DiRT Rally 2.0 dares you to carve your way through a selection of iconic rally locations from across the globe, in the most powerful off-road vehicles ever made, knowing that the smallest mistake could end your stage.

After a bidding war with GTA publisher Take-Two Interactive at the end of 2020, EA wound up walking away with Dirt and F1 developer Codemasters in a deal worth around $1.2 billion USD. Now, EA says it plans to expand the EA Sports portfolio, leveraging the talent it acquired with Codemasters to develop annual racing games.

The acquisition of Codemasters creates "a global leader in racing entertainment," EA says in slides distributed to shareholders ahead of its quarterly earnings call today. Having Codemasters in its stable of studios "will enable EA to release new racing experiences annually" which is a "natural fit" with "clear opportunities with [the] EA Sports portfolio."

EA also plans to continue supporting Codemasters' existing catalogue of racing games by providing access to "EA's technology, central services, and 330M-strong player network - effectively expanding Codemasters' total addressable market." The "cross-fertilization of ideas" possible with Codemasters and EA's existing racing development teams "will improve and accelerate development and innovation" - in other words, sharing ideas means nobody has to reinvent the wheel, as it were.

Read the rest of the story...

RELATED LINKS:
Support SpecialEffect with this year's Humble One Special Day Bundle
Dirt Rally 3 and a "brand new experience" in the series are both on the way
Dirt Rally 2.0 and Sniper Elite 4 to feature in-game "Stay home. Save lives" ads