Electronic Arts Just Added A Bunch Of Racing Games To Its Portfolio

Electronic Arts today announced that its acquisition of Codemasters is complete. That acquisition was wrapped up pretty fast, as it was only announced back at the beginning of December. The deal sees Electronic Arts buying up Codemasters in a $1.2 billion deal, getting all of the franchises Codemasters owns in the process.

Make no mistake, this was an acquisition meant to help EA better compete in the world of racing games. Before the acquisition, EA's notable racing franchises included Need for Speed and Real Racing on mobile. There's also the Burnout series, but we haven't seen a mainline release in that franchise since Burnout Paradise and its subsequent remaster.

Following the Codemasters acquisition, EA's racing portfolio has expanded significantly. The publisher now owns the right to the Formula 1, DIRT, GRID, DIRT Rally, and Project CARS franchises, so just like that, Electronic Arts has become a big competitor in the world of racing games.

As a first (or at least early) order of business, it wouldn't be surprising to see Electronic Arts bring some existing Codemasters games to its subscription service, EA Play. The subscription service, which is included in Xbox Game Pass and available across consoles and PC, is seemingly becoming more important to EA as time goes on, and putting some of Codemasters' games on there could ultimately draw more subscribers in.

Of course, there's always the worry that EA's influence might change Codemasters' games for the worse, but we'll just have to wait and see how things pan out. We'll let you know if EA makes any Codemasters-related announcements in the near future, so stay tuned for more.