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[ShaiKhulud1989]

F1 25 could be the last Codemasters game and the end of the franchise in the hands of Electronic Arts.

According to LinkedIn profiles of employees of Codemasters Southam, the former studio behind the previously canceled WRC is now working on EA Sports FC as a support studio. Per Insider Gaming's Mike Straw, EA is planning to merge current F1 developer Codemasters Birmingham with some other EA studio. Codemasters Cheshire has already been quietly merged with Guildford-based Criterion.

It's no coincidence either. In 2025 EA license and contract for F1 is expiring, though there is a possibility of renewal for 2026 and 2027 if certain milestones are met. That being said, according to Straw, EA thinks the whole deail is 'iffy' and not enthusiastic about the contract renewal. Current Codemasters employees will probably work to support EA FC and Battlefield.

This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that Codemasters X-account was deleted in a swift fashion after WRC cancellation. Considering, that no one is restoring it, this cannot be written off as SMM mistake or misunderstanding.

In the end, the icon of British game development with almost 40 years of history has come to an inglorious end, and EA's graveyard has one more fresh tombstone.

 

[N0S]

 

[ReasonBeing]

Wouldn't surprise me, but all of this evidence is speculative. I guess we will know next year.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Wouldn't surprise me, but all of this evidence is speculative. I guess we will know next year.

Knowing EA, we're just waiting a lousy PR text at this point, sadly.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I think Polyphony Digital has the opportunity here to create the largest racing platform in history by first adding the F1 and WRC licensing and releasing annual DLC in addition to porting Gran Turismo 8 to PC.

Sony wants live service and this would be one of the biggest live service games. After getting F1 and WRC, you add stuff like NASCAR, IndyCar, and MotoGP (bringing back Tourist Trophy). Would make for one hell of a season pass.

Polyphony would have to expand massively and tighten some things up, particularly in Rally, but having one core framework for all of this all on the same engine would be super cost effective.

I think it would make for the 2nd biggest sports game behind EA FC.

 

[64gigabyteram]

F1 25 could be the last Codemasters game and the end of the franchise in the hands of Electronic Arts.

According to LinkedIn profiles of employees of Codemasters Southam, the former studio behind the previously canceled WRC is now working on EA Sports FC as a support studio. Per Insider Gaming's Mike Straw, EA is planning to merge current F1 developer Codemasters Birmingham with some other EA studio. Codemasters Cheshire has already been quietly merged with Guildford-based Criterion.

It's no coincidence either. In 2025 EA license and contract for F1 is expiring, though there is a possibility of renewal for 2026 and 2027 if certain milestones are met. That being said, according to Straw, EA thinks the whole deail is 'iffy' and not enthusiastic about the contract renewal. Current Codemasters employees will probably work to support EA FC and Battlefield.

This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that Codemasters X-account was deleted in a swift fashion after WRC cancellation. Considering, that no one is restoring it, this cannot be written off as SMM mistake or misunderstanding.

In the end, the icon of British game development with almost 40 years of history has come to an inglorious end, and EA's graveyard has one more fresh tombstone.

Someone buy them. please. anybody

 

[Montauk]

Did you mean shuttered?

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

I think Polyphony Digital has the opportunity here to create the largest racing platform in history by first adding the F1 and WRC licensing and releasing annual DLC in addition to porting Gran Turismo 8 to PC.

Sony wants live service and this would be one of the biggest live service games. After getting F1 and WRC, you add stuff like NASCAR, IndyCar, and MotoGP (bringing back Tourist Trophy). Would make for one hell of a season pass.

Polyphony would have to expand massively and tighten some things up, particularly in Rally, but having one core framework for all of this all on the same engine would be super cost effective.

I think it would make for the 2nd biggest sports game behind EA FC.

Problem with F1 that it's not easy to maintain a yearly roster, Polyphony will just die with their perfectionism. That being said, they can opt-in to license some cars and tracks freely now. That's a huge plus.

Did you mean shuttered?

I'm on a phone and not a native speaker, so if mod could kindly edit it - by all means.

 

[DR3AM]

Bad news; this sucks
Good news: F1 with EA has been the same game for years. Change is needed

 

[VectorVictor]

Holy s***, who had Codemasters as the next EA acquisition to be put down in the massive grave?

I figured that BioWare would have beat Codemasters...but Codemasters were about speed and getting from point A to B quickly...

 

[poppabk]

I'm on a phone and not a native speaker, so if mod could kindly edit it - by all means.

Shattered/shuttered, both work.

 

[Lagspike_exe]

Opportunity for Sony to get this at a good price.

 

[Skifi28]

From the new golden age of rally games to this in less than 4 years.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Holy s***, who had Codemasters as the next EA acquisition to be put down in the massive grave?

I figured that BioWare would have beat Codemasters...but Codemasters were about speed and getting from point A to B quickly...

Well, they've had quite a racing pedigree...

 

[PeteBull]

 

[Senua]

Predictable but still sad. Legendary studio

 

[Crayon]

I wonder how much conversation about preserving storied studios before they shut them down. Psygnosis was the worst for me. idk the details of the shift over to studio liverpool but I know they were never the same.

 

[VectorVictor]

Opportunity for Sony to get this at a good price.

Get what, exactly? Codemasters? They're gone?

F1 and Rally licensing? Sure...maybe F1, but Rally they could get away with GT expansions, right? Or just roll Rally and F1 into GT and justify an $80 US price tag?

 

[GHG]

Bad news; this sucks
Good news: F1 with EA has been the same game for years. Change is needed

It was the same game long before EA acquired codemasters.

It's been pretty much the same since Codemasters got the rights.

 

[64gigabyteram]

I think Polyphony Digital has the opportunity here to create the largest racing platform in history by first adding the F1 and WRC licensing and releasing annual DLC in addition to porting Gran Turismo 8 to PC.

Sony wants live service and this would be one of the biggest live service games. After getting F1 and WRC, you add stuff like NASCAR, IndyCar, and MotoGP (bringing back Tourist Trophy). Would make for one hell of a season pass.

Polyphony would have to expand massively and tighten some things up, particularly in Rally, but having one core framework for all of this all on the same engine would be super cost effective.

I think it would make for the 2nd biggest sports game behind EA FC.

an entire studio gets shuttered and you can only think about Sony. Typical Mibu....

why dont you join their board of directors

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Problem with F1 that it's not easy to maintain a yearly roster, Polyphony will just die with their perfectionism. That being said, they can opt-in to license some cars and tracks freely now. That's a huge plus.

Polyphony is slow, but they actually generate way more than what F1 would require. Plus it's a great opportunity for organic growth.

Would be the definitive racing experience on PC and console (PS5).

 

[StereoVsn]

F1 25 could be the last Codemasters game and the end of the franchise in the hands of Electronic Arts.

According to LinkedIn profiles of employees of Codemasters Southam, the former studio behind the previously canceled WRC is now working on EA Sports FC as a support studio. Per Insider Gaming's Mike Straw, EA is planning to merge current F1 developer Codemasters Birmingham with some other EA studio. Codemasters Cheshire has already been quietly merged with Guildford-based Criterion.

It's no coincidence either. In 2025 EA license and contract for F1 is expiring, though there is a possibility of renewal for 2026 and 2027 if certain milestones are met. That being said, according to Straw, EA thinks the whole deail is 'iffy' and not enthusiastic about the contract renewal. Current Codemasters employees will probably work to support EA FC and Battlefield.

This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that Codemasters X-account was deleted in a swift fashion after WRC cancellation. Considering, that no one is restoring it, this cannot be written off as SMM mistake or misunderstanding.

In the end, the icon of British game development with almost 40 years of history has come to an inglorious end, and EA's graveyard has one more fresh tombstone.

Why the F did EA buy them? Like what even is the point of all of this just to shutter the company?

Fuck EA.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Bad news; this sucks
Good news: F1 with EA has been the same game for years. Change is needed

More guns and explosions? Unlock cute anime girl drivers gocha style?
Car armor DLC?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

an entire studio gets shuttered and you can only think about Sony. Typical Mibu....

why dont you join their board of directors

First, we don't know that they'll be shuttered.

Second, it would be a great opportunity for people to get their jobs "back"

There are only a handful of companies who could do a project like this, and yeah, Sony is one of them. Sorry that hurts your feeling.

 

[HJuggernaut]

codemasters is one of those middle tier studios that I thought would go belly up during the ps3 era (most did) i am shocked they are still operational

 

[64gigabyteram]

There are only a handful of companies who could do a project like this, and yeah, Sony is one of them.

That doesn't mean you gotta have their dick in your mouth all the time. You come in here just to steer the conversation into "how would Sony handle this" when you're not even working there.

at least pay some damned respects.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Why the F did EA buy them? Like what even is the point of all of this just to shutter the company?

Fuck EA.

I think they saw an easy buck but never did much to really build out either franchise (F1 or WRC).

For WRC, I also think not coming out on the previous generation in 2023 was probably a mistake, especially if it was still going to use Unreal 4.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

That doesn't mean you gotta have their dick in your mouth all the time. You come in here just to steer the conversation into "how would Sony handle this" when you're not even working there.

at least pay some damned respects.

Delulu, you should always be thinking of what comes next.

 

[Trilobit]

codemasters is one of those middle tier studios that I thought would go belly up during the ps3 era (most did) i am shocked they are still operational

I'm just sad we'll never get something like Toca 2 again.

 

[Roman Empire]

Unexpected, but not surprised if happens.

Anyway, just another reason to hate EA.

 

[EN250]

Opportunity for Sony to get this at a good price.

they're going to buy a studio (not longer a pub since EA got them) who's owner is about to kill? how that works?

If they wanted Codemasters, they should have fought for it like EA did to outbid T2 and get them like 4 years ago, now it's cooked, best thing would be to snag the talent, but they're from UK and Sony also shutdown their studio over there as well

 

[64gigabyteram]

Dirt is probably not gonna get any more games either. A shame because those games were fantastic, peak of arcade rally action after Sega threw in the towel.

EA can fellate a cactus.

 

[sncvsrtoip]

So maybe we will get some good f1 game after so many years ? ;d

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

EA's execs must be the biggest pack of incompetent retards imaginable.

 

[YCoCg]

Another British studio gone, possibly the last great one, Codemasters have a legacy here.

 

[m14]

I think Polyphony Digital has the opportunity here to create the largest racing platform in history by first adding the F1 and WRC licensing and releasing annual DLC in addition to porting Gran Turismo 8 to PC.

Sony wants live service and this would be one of the biggest live service games. After getting F1 and WRC, you add stuff like NASCAR, IndyCar, and MotoGP (bringing back Tourist Trophy). Would make for one hell of a season pass.

Polyphony would have to expand massively and tighten some things up, particularly in Rally, but having one core framework for all of this all on the same engine would be super cost effective.

I think it would make for the 2nd biggest sports game behind EA FC.

What is the current 2nd biggest? Is it NBA 2K?

 

[RCX]

To the shock of nobody.

We'll always have micro machines 1&2 my brothers.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Opportunity for Sony to get this at a good price.

before or after raising their games to 90 dollars?

 

[cireza]

Great memories of their games on 8 and 16 bits SEGA consoles. Micro Machines, Psycho Pinball, Pete Sampras etc...

 

[Sintoid]

I can't even Remember what does EA still do

 

[Lagspike_exe]

Get what, exactly? Codemasters? They're gone?

F1 and Rally licensing? Sure...maybe F1, but Rally they could get away with GT expansions, right? Or just roll Rally and F1 into GT and justify an $80 US price tag?

The license, not Codemasters. They can do something with PD or with another external team.

 

[PaintTinJr]

Why the F did EA buy them? Like what even is the point of all of this just to shutter the company?

Fuck EA.

At the time of the acquisition I believe I theorized about them becoming the new home of EA's Fifa.

Through Covid their access to mocap the world's best players in the Prem at their Canada football studio would have been impossible, so moving local to the talent to mitigate risk in the event of another lockdown seemed like risk aversion planning.

IIRC at the time Canada were withdrawing gaming perks that had landed the likes of EA to setup a football dev studio in their country too, so potentially relocating to the UK for football development seemed like a logical possibility..

 

[Catphish]

At this point, given EA's history, you'd be a fool to expect otherwise.

They paid over $1B for Codemasters, and did absolutely fuck-all to improve the F1 product. If anything, it got worse.

Anecdotally, I got into F1 with 2019. I bought, played, and enjoyed 20 and 21.

Then came 2022. Here's my Steam review of that unmitigated piece of garbage:

Avoid this piece of $#!+ like the plague.

I pre-purchased the Champions Edition to support and experience the VR integration. I couldn't play the game in VR for more than 15 minutes without the game crashing to desktop with the infamous EGO Dumper message. After several weeks of tinkering, forum posts, and waiting for patches, I gave up, and decided to shelve it for a few months and see if they would clean it up.

I tried playing yesterday for the first time since and, to my absolute f#@%ing astonishment, the game won't even launch. And this isn't even in VR mode, just regular display. I click Play in Steam, get a black screen, and an EGO Dumper crash message. After all this time, it's actually gotten *worse*. So I essentially gave EA/Codemasters $70 for nothing, and I can't get a refund from Steam. Turns out I'm not the only one having this issue, but EA/CM have been absolutely silent.

I have a more than capable rig (i9 10900K, 32GB RAM, RTX 3080), and have no issues with any other games, not even past F1 titles. But ever since EA took this over, it's been a frustrating, rage-inducing headache.

I'm going back to ACC, and writing this series off. Everything EA touches turns to $#!+, and F1 is no exception.

Just look at the reviews here, or the Discussions. There are a lot of bugs, a lot of issues, a lot of bull$#!+, and a lot of dissatisfied customers. I've been buying Codemasters products since TOCA, almost 20 years ago. No more. I'm done. There's only so much abuse I can take.

STAY. AWAY.

And that was the last one I bought. I followed user feedback for 23 and 24 and tried them both through Gamepass, and found the AI, handling, features, and quality (as in being bug-free) lacking in both.

EA is such a fucking blight on the industry, which is so tragically ironic given their position in the 90s and early 2000s. I was never really one to wish for a company to go tits-up but, for EA, I'll make one hell of an enthusiastic exception.

 

[joeygreco1985]

Jesus what a shame. I own dozens of Codemasters releases over the years and they have made some of the best racing games of all time.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Holy s***, who had Codemasters as the next EA acquisition to be put down in the massive grave?

I figured that BioWare would have beat Codemasters...but Codemasters were about speed and getting from point A to B quickly...

Huh? That was expected the minute EA took over Codemasters. Most racing games don't sell all that well anymore (with Horizon & GT being the only exceptions) and EA's expectations for sales & monetization would always be huge.

I don't know if Codemasters was desperate for money and may have closed on its own without EA buying them, but the endgame wasn't that hard to predict.

 

[Duchess]

Another British studio gone, possibly the last great one, Codemasters have a legacy here.

Oh yes. I remember back in the 80s, going into Boots and WH Smiths, and looking at all the C64 games on the shelves. Many of the quality games had the Codemasters logo on the case.

 

[Durin]

EA has honestly done it to so many other developers that I loved that it's hard to care anymore.

Maxis, Bullfrog, Origin Systems, Visceral, Westwood (big fuck U for that), Mythic, Bioware, all dead.

All I can say is they've been boring for years.

 

[Allandor]

Wouldn't surprise me. It is niche product (as simulators are) and development costs get higher and higher.
Although the make the same game for years now. Maybe a pause is needed to increase the demand.

 

[Hudo]

So why did they buy Codemasters for 1.2 billion Dollars, then?

And why the fuck is BioWare still alive? I swear, EA are shutting down studios for minor grievances while BioWare are allowed to shit out flop after flop.

 

[FeralEcho]

From the new golden age of rally games to this in less than 4 years.

"Gaming industry"

What a sad state this industry has turned into when it comes to AAA development. These braindead publishers have no fucking clue how to manage any studio.

The Crash can't come soon enough!