Codemasters Says "Racing is Everything"

[Andy Chalk]

Codemasters Says "Racing is Everything"

Codemasters has announced that it is now focusing exclusively on racing games.

Codemasters [http://www.codemasters.com] isn't an industry heavyweight by any stretch of the imagination but it's been around since 1986, it employs 700 people and it's put out a lot of games over the years, some of which are actually pretty good. Its best-known titles tend to be racing games, like the Dirt and F1 franchises, but it's also responsible for games like Bodycount and Operation Flashpoint. But no longer!

Codemasters announced today that it is moving to a racing-only formula, beginning with the launch of a new label, Codemasters Racing, which will serve as the home for the F1 [http://www.amazon.com/Dirt-3-Playstation/dp/B004Q8L46G/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1334862631&sr=8-5] franchises. As for non-racing games, well, there are no more non-racing games.

"Racing is the absolute razor focus for all titles currently in development and those slated for future development across the studios in Warwickshire and Birmingham," the company said. "The focus is an exclusive one, there are no other genre properties in development at this time; racing is everything."

Codemasters is confident enough in the move to full-time racing that it's actually expanding, adding another 100 employees over the course of the year. It's also launching Dirt Showdown [https://www.facebook.com/CMRacenet] playable demo, which comes out on May 1.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168850/Codemasters_turns_focus_purely_to_racing_games_launches_social_hub.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29]


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[Airsoftslayer93]

Sounds like a good move, their racing games are awesome, their other games, not so much.

 

[draythefingerless]

GRID is to me, still the best racing game i ever played. It was JUST the right balance between arcarde and simulator. althou it could of used less of those 10 minute long races near the higher tiers....multiplayer compensated for it thou.

also, good on codemasters.

 

[Scrustle]

This sounds interesting. Codemasters consistently puts out great racing games and are a great example of the best the UK has to offer. Hopefully this means we will finally start getting news of GRID 2. The DiRT and F1 games are all good, but GRID is what I've always been interested in. I've been itching for a sequel for ages, especially since they have released 2 (soon to be 3) DiRT games and 3 F1 games since they brought out GRID!

 

[The White Hunter]

Makes sense to me, I mean the earliest exposure I had to codemasters was colin mcrae on the PS1 I think, and to my knowledge they're still cranking out top notch racing games.

Though I'll admit I do kinda like Flashpoint, it's good fun if you can get a few friends to play it with you. But it's not like I'll miss it really, something will fill the 4 player co-operative tactical shooter gap.

 

[SuperNova221]

Nice to see a company focus on one niche instead of spreading out to try encompass whatever's popular. Especially when they've been putting out good games in that niche since at least the 90's.

 

[Nimcha]

I hope this means the next F1 game is going to be decent for once. And most of all, modable.

 

[bravetoaster]

Interesting. I hope they'll decide to make a racing game one of these years that meets the high standard of being technically playable.

I probably would have enjoyed my copy of Dirt 2 if only it could actually be played on the PC.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I'm pretty sure they never said they would never do anything other than racing games ever again. That's what it sounded like the article was getting at.

Anyway, I've never been a big fan of CodeMasters games in the past seeing as I generally suck at racing, (and OFR was absolutely dreadful).

Wow me in the near future CodeMasters, wow me.

 

[Weaver]

Well, their racing games are pretty good. I'm glad they're focusing on something they want to do because they like it (I assume) rather than because it's the biggest honeypot in the market.

 

[Rai^3]

Well, their attempt at an FPS (Bodycount, if you didn't know) was a boring insult to the genre. I really wanted to like it, too, because Black was a blast.

 

[80Maxwell08]

So are they going to sell all of their other IPs? I doubt any of their games are worth that much but they might be worth something to someone. Even just giving them back to the original devs or selling it to them for cheap.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

It's funny because I've never liked a Codemasters racing game.

 

[Slayer_2]

Flashpoint Dragon Rising was really good, I thought. Red River... not so much.

 

[gunner1905]

Come on Codemasters just make GRID 2 ffs, enough with the Dirt games.

 

[RatRace123]

So, no more Overlord?
'cause I actually liked that series.

 

[80Maxwell08]

So, no more Overlord?
'cause I actually liked that series.

Me too though I liked the second one less. God that freaking spider puzzle.

 

[Rad Party God]

Great!, good move indeed, their racing games are simply awesome, some of the best $15 bucks I've ever spent in any game (I bought 5 of their titles in a Steam sale).