Take-Two Interactive is in talks to acquire Codemasters

[Shawn Knight]

Recap: The British video game developer and publisher was founded in 1986 by brothers David and Richard Darling and has put out a steady stream of content ever since. Many of the company’s early works were simulators, sports and racing games, a theme that has persisted over the years as evident by more recent offerings like the Dirt and F1 franchises.

Take-Two Interactive has confirmed that it recently submitted a proposal to acquire Codemasters.

Take-Two, which owns Rockstar Games and 2K, is the third-largest publicly traded game company (in the Americas and Europe) behind Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts. The firm said it is willing to pay approximately $6.40 per share for Codemasters, consisting of approximately $1.58 in cash and $4.82 per share in Take-Two stock. The total value of the deal would be $973.8 million, according to VentureBeat.

It’s worth reiterating that the proposal isn’t a firm offer and that the deal could still fall through. As of now, it is contingent upon Take-Two completing due diligence and board approval.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a recent earnings call that there has been a lot of acceleration lately with regards to mergers and acquisitions in the space, specifically citing Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda.

“You’re going to continue to see increased M&A activity, just because of the heat around the category and capital that is being deployed by big companies,” Zelnick said. “We have almost $2.4 billion in cash. We have no debt. We are anxious to build our business aggressively.”

Take-Two has until December 4, 2020, to either announce its intention to make an offer or pull out.

Image credit: rafapress, OleksandrShnuryk

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87511-take-two-interactive-talks-acquire-codemasters.html

 

[neeyik]

As much as I'd like Codemasters to remain independent, their glory days of having a diverse portfolio of titles is long gone: it's just F1, Dirt, and Grid now. Sure the first two are very successful, but are they enough to keep them going for years to come? I suspect not.

 

[noel24]

As much as I'd like Codemasters to remain independent, their glory days of having a diverse portfolio of titles is long gone: it's just F1, Dirt, and Grid now. Sure the first two are very successful, but are they enough to keep them going for years to come? I suspect not.

On the other hand, T2 is becoming a new EA. They are stagnating in Their IP developments, making more and more from microtransactions and slowly making Their workhorses tired or killing them altogether.

 

[neeyik]

On the other hand, T2 is becoming a new EA. They are stagnating in Their IP developments, making more and more from microtransactions and slowly making Their workhorses tired or killing them altogether.

Quite agree - one only has to look at the tragedy that is NBA 2K to see how Take Two approaches sports titles.

 

[ShadowDeath]

Quite agree - one only has to look at the tragedy that is NBA 2K to see how Take Two approaches sports titles.

And GTA 5

 

[gamerk2]

On the other hand, T2 is becoming a new EA. They are stagnating in Their IP developments, making more and more from microtransactions and slowly making Their workhorses tired or killing them altogether.

Because that's what they have to do to make a profit, because they're so big now. Your seeing Capitalism in action.

Honestly, it will just be EA, 2k, Activision, and Ubisoft soon. Pretty much everyone else of note has been eaten.

 

[Burty117]

Because that's what they have to do to make a profit, because they're so big now. Your seeing Capitalism in action.

Well that's just not true is it? They openly admitted to having no debt at all and a cash pile amounting to 2.4 billion.

On every Star Citizen thread on here everyone keeps going on about games like GTA "only" costing 100 million to develop, so to be sat on that kind of cash, they really could develop new IP's and whatever else they want with no worries of the business falling over whatsoever.

The real problem is that gaming is now seen as a way to become stinking rich, there's more emphasis on making money from a game than there is a fun gameplay loop.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Well that's just not true is it? They openly admitted to having no debt at all and a cash pile amounting to 2.4 billion.

On every Star Citizen thread on here everyone keeps going on about games like GTA "only" costing 100 million to develop, so to be sat on that kind of cash, they really could develop new IP's and whatever else they want with no worries of the business falling over whatsoever.

The real problem is that gaming is now seen as a way to become stinking rich, there's more emphasis on making money from a game than there is a fun gameplay loop.

Money ruins art, but money is also needed to make art. A conundrum as old as the human condition.

The current giants are plagued with greed, nepotism, and self praise. And who could blame them? They get shovels of money jammed down their throats for every milqtoast product they push through the door, regardless of quality.

This is why PC is the best gaming platform by the by, with backwards compatibility and access to thirdd party software stores with plenty of indie and smaller developers to chose from.