Take-Two buys F1 studio Codemasters for $994 million

Update: Take-Two Interactive has confirmed that it's reached a deal to acquire Codemasters for about $994 million. It was revealed that the two companies were in the negotiating stages last week, but now terms have been agreed upon and the deal is set to close in the first quarter of 2021.

In a statement (via Business Wire), Take-Two spoke on the benefit of bringing Codemasters' expertise in developing racing games into the fold. "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," said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

Original story follows...

Take-Two Interactive is in talks to acquire Codemasters, the storied British studio behind racing series F1 and Dirt. In an investor memo made public on Friday, Codemasters revealed that they'd been given a buyout offer from Take-Two for $973 million.

Codemasters is currently celebrating today's release of Dirt 5, which marks a departure from the series, not to mention racing games more broadly, by telling an involved story featuring two of the biggest names in voice talent: Nolan North and Troy Baker. A little earlier in the year, the studio released the F1 2020, the 13th entry in the Formula 1 racing series.

Take-Two is the parent company overseeing Read Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto studio Rockstar Games. The holdings company also owns 2k, the studio behind the Bioshock, Borderlands, and Civilization series.

As it stands, nothing is set in stone. Codemasters has only revealed that it has received a takeover offer, which means the final dollar amount could still be negotiated, and if things don't work out in that stage of talks, the whole arrangement still has the potential to fall through.

"Take-Two believes that the combination of Take-Two and Codemasters would bring together two world-class interactive entertainment portfolios, with a highly complementary fit between Take-Two's 2K publishing label and Codemasters in the racing genre," Take-Two said in a statement. "In addition, Take-Two believes that it can bring benefits to Codemasters' performance by leveraging Take-Two's global distribution network and 2K’s core operating expertise in publishing, including live operations, analytics, product development, and brand and performance marketing."

Here's Nolan North on redeeming the bad guy in Codemaster's Dirt 5.