One of the world’s largest video game publishers is on its way to buying the world’s largest racing game developer. And in case you’re wondering why Electronic Arts would be interested in Codemasters, this is the annual potential.
More specifically, this is Formula 1. EA held a call to investors yesterday and he issued a fight along with him. On pages 15 and 16, the publishing giant addresses the acquisition of Codemasters in more detail. Among the reasons listed for the acquisition are that Codies “will allow EA to launch new racing experiences annually” and we know that big publishers love their annual franchises.
Formula 1 is the only annual Codies series at the moment, one that has been advancing every year since 2009 after taking over Sony’s licensing rights. After a few rocky years, the franchise has become a critical and commercial favorite, which EA is very aware of, as the publisher cites a Metacritic score of 88 for the latest version. F1 2020, right there on their slide show.
The increase in F1 as a gaming entity reflects the growth of F1 as a sport throughout the 2010s. In 2019, sport reached 1.9 billion viewers – the most global since 2012, although the single vision declined slightly. Of course, that was before the pandemic, which he saw F1 racing revenues plummet as a result of non-existent ticket and hospitality sales in 2020. The growth of F1 social media channels has helped expand the sport and it now has TikTok, if you can believe it. Would you ever imagine it happening under Bernie Ecclestone?
Anyway, all this makes F1 the perfect fit for EA Sports. The publisher can count on F1 every year, just as he can count on it Madden i FIFA, in addition to the fact that F1 enjoys much more critical praise than franchises (Madden 21 is 63 years old at Metacritic, while FIFA is at 74.) Circumstances are about to get an F1 Ultimate Team mode loaded with microtransactions, which you just know EA is trying to do. I hope to unwrap an 80’s Nick Heidfeld in a card pack in which I spent $ 5.
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There’s even more annual racing game potential waiting on the wings for EA as Codemasters tries to launch its first licensed World Rally Championship title in 2023. The profit potential here certainly won’t be as huge as with F1, which I a little worried about. He Dirt Rally the crew working on a fully licensed WRC experience would be a match made in the sky, the kind that racing and rally fans have been thinking about forever. Kylotonn, which continues to produce WRC games until Codies takes over, has delivered solid titles on its own, though the studio cannot overcome the technical development as Codemasters and EA should be able to do with their resources. shared.
In addition to F1 and WRC, Dirt will continue with its double arcade and simulation, judging by the slide. There are also Grid i Project Cars – two series of circuit races that are in danger of stepping on your fingers these days, especially as Project Cars 3 he opted for an arcade tilt, unlike his predecessors.
It is unclear what the acquisition of EA could impose for any title that these respective Codies-owned studios have in operation. I should not point out that EA has a history of interference with its internal studies. Need for speed she has been one of the worst victims of this. Ghost Games developed what was, in my opinion, a promising return to training with 2019 NFS heat, only for EA to rip the series and return it to Criterion for the next version; The criterion had already been lost NFS when Ghost was first released. Burnout the inclusion in the presentation is especially groundbreaking, given that there has been no new entry into this franchise in 13 years.
So yes, there are still many, many questions to answer here, and we probably won’t see the true ramifications of this acquisition in the market for a couple of years. EA will soon host a supergroup of legendary racing game development talents; pray that they take advantage of it effectively, but above all, patiently.