Take-Two, the parent company of both the 2K franchises and Rockstar Games, has made a “possible offer” to purchase UK-based developer Codemasters for approximately $973 million. The reason this isn’t an outright purchase yet is because the deal is currently being discussed by the Codemasters board of directors, although it’s a very high probability that they will accept the terms and the buyout. Should the deal go through, then Take-Two will add a plethora of IP’s to their library, which includes the popular Dirt racing franchise. In addition to owning Codemasters, Take-Two would also own the rights to Slightly Mad Studios which developer Project Cars.
Following the announcement, Codemasters stock shares went up roughly 8.6%, as well as Take-Two’s which rose by 2.9%, which indicates a fairly general level of excitement about the purchase by the stockholders. According to the rules of the UK City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, Take-Two can either fully commit to the deal should the board of directors accept it, or revoke it and walk away completely by December 4. As we mentioned before, the chances of this deal going through are very good and would bolster Take-Two’s future gross/net revenue for the foreseeable future.
Codemasters might not be the most well-known developer outside of their native UK, but the company has been pumping out titles since 1986, the most well known among them being the aforementioned Dirt series which used to be called Colin McRae Rally. The most recent entry, Dirt 5, released just this week for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC where it has been generally well-received thus far. The game will also be a launch title for both the Xbox Series X/Series S and the PlayStation 5, and will also release for Google’s Stadia in 2021.