Electronic Arts snatched (literally) F1 studio Codemasters from Take-Two Interactive in December for a whopping $1.2 billion, and although fans were skeptical about the move, the studio seems pretty content with its decision.
In an interview with MCV, CEO Frank Sagnier said that given Codemasters history with EA, accepting the offer of acquisition from the publisher made the most sense, and as a result, the integration has been pretty smooth thus far.
“We are in the process of integrating,” said Sagnier. “The good news is, it’s been way faster than I anticipated. And I could tell you that within just two months, it’s amazing how much we’ve integrated so quickly. And in all departments. It’s like the glove fits perfectly, like we found our Cinderella shoe, it is a perfect fit!”
In the same interview, EA CEO Andrew Wilson reiterated that it’ll treat Codemasters like a separate entity within the company, and the studio will retain its independence like Respawn Entertainment has.
“Similar to Respawn, our orientation isn’t to come in and take over Codemasters; our orientation isn’t to come in and turn Codemasters into another Electronic Arts studio; our orientation is around the provision of opportunity,” Wilson told MCV. “This industry is all about amazing, creative talent. And we see little upside in the indoctrination of that amazing creative talent. But we do want to provide them access to the things that we get by virtue of our position in the industry.”
Codemasters’ next game, F1 2021, will release on July 16th.
[Source: MCV]
