Codemasters shareholders have voted to formally approve the company’s sale to EA. The takeover should now be legally sanctioned during a court hearing on February 16, pending other competition law approvals, finalising EA’s $1.2 billion acquisition of the game developer and publisher.
As reported by VGC, 63 of the 76 shareholders voted in favour of approving the deal during a remote court meeting on Wednesday, which represents nearly 99% of shares held. The Codemasters board of directors had previously recommended that the company’s shareholders vote in favour of the purchase, saying that EA’s experience in creating live service games, along with its wealth of resources, would allow EA to dominate the racing game genre once it adds the various Codemasters studios to its collection.
Once the deal is finalised, racing franchises such as Dirt, Dirt Rally, Grid, and F1 will be added to EA’s library of games. Codemasters also recently secured the rights to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) and acquired Slightly Mad Studios, the developer behind Project Cars and Fast & Furious Crossroads.
Take-Two initially offered Codemasters $994 million back in November before EA made its counter-offer. During its third-quarter earnings results on Tuesday, EA said the deal would enable the company to release new racing games annually.
