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EA CEO Andrew Wilson says Codemasters will be able to retain its identity ‘like Respawn has’

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

Wilson told MCV he wants the UK-based racing game developer to retain its unique identity.

He said the company will treat Codemasters in a similar fashion to how it has handled Titanfall maker Respawn Entertainment, which went on to develop Apex Legends following EA’s acquisition of the studio in 2017.

“Similar to Respawn, our orientation isn’t to come in and take over Codemasters; our orientation isn’t to come in and turn Codemasters into another Electronic Arts studio; our orientation is around the provision of opportunity,” Wilson claimed.

“This industry is all about amazing, creative talent. And we see little upside in the indoctrination of that amazing creative talent. But we do want to provide them access to the things that we get by virtue of our position in the industry.”

Wilson said EA has an “amazing cupboard” stocked with leading IP, technology, marketing power, and a giant network of players which Codemasters is being granted full access to.

“And so the way we’re thinking about this, and it’s how we worked with Respawn, it’s more about handing Codemasters a set of keys to the cupboard, and they can come and take what they need from that cupboard, but they get to continue to be who they are, because that’s what made them special in the first place,” he said.

Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier agreed that EA is offering Codemasters lots of new opportunities without being pushy.

“EA brings scale with its sales and marketing muscles, live services expertise, state of the art analytics platform, EA access, EA Play, Origin – just so much wealth that EA brings in terms of their services,” he said.

“We’ve had access to every single opportunity. I’m not saying that we’re going to take everything. And that’s why it’s fantastic, EA is offering all the services, but not forcing us if it doesn’t fit. So it really is the perfect world at this point. And this is why I’m so confident about how much EA can bring to Codemasters and hopefully vice versa, because they listen and we listen too.”

Sagnier also said it was “amazing how much we’ve integrated so quickly” following the acquisition. “And in all departments. It’s like the glove fits perfectly, like we found our Cinderella shoe, it is a perfect fit!”
 
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TwistedSyn

Member
tenor.gif
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
May 18, 2021

Re: Chop, chop!

OK team, lets get to work on Dirt 6! I want you guys to put in your best efforts into making the best Dirt game ever!

Don't cut any corners as we've already decided to release Dirt 6 right in the middle of the next Forza, GT, Project Cars and Assetto Corsa games.

- Andrew Wilson
 
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Derktron

Banned
Where else? lol

It'll be right in between the launch dates of the next BF and COD games.
I mean he claims that EA has not touched anything with Respawn but if memory is correct I remember them saying that Titanfalll 3 was in development but scaped it because of Apex.
 

Derktron

Banned
Didn't someone from EA come out quite a while ago that Respawn was free to do Titanfall 3, if they wanted?
That is my question there too, but I remember someone saying that they were in the process of making the game and scaped it for Apex.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

CEO Frank Sagnier and CFO Rashid Varachia will leave the F1 and Dirt publisher at the end of the month, EA confirmed in a statement issued to GI.biz.

A company spokesperson reportedly claimed that the departures had “always been part of the plan”, but have now been brought forward due to the speed of Codemasters’ integration into EA’s studios.

Both Codemasters and its Slightly Mad studio (Project Cars) will join the EA Sports umbrella, it said. Slightly Mad will continue to be led by studio CEO Ian Bell, while Codemasters’ SVP of product development Clive Moody and SVP of publishing Jonathan Bunney will take over the running of the company.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes

CEO Frank Sagnier and CFO Rashid Varachia will leave the F1 and Dirt publisher at the end of the month, EA confirmed in a statement issued to GI.biz.

A company spokesperson reportedly claimed that the departures had “always been part of the plan”, but have now been brought forward due to the speed of Codemasters’ integration into EA’s studios.

Both Codemasters and its Slightly Mad studio (Project Cars) will join the EA Sports umbrella, it said. Slightly Mad will continue to be led by studio CEO Ian Bell, while Codemasters’ SVP of product development Clive Moody and SVP of publishing Jonathan Bunney will take over the running of the company.
This is normal. There is no need for a CEO or owner or founder to be at the studio after he's sold the company for a billion.
 

mckmas8808

Banned

CEO Frank Sagnier and CFO Rashid Varachia will leave the F1 and Dirt publisher at the end of the month, EA confirmed in a statement issued to GI.biz.

A company spokesperson reportedly claimed that the departures had “always been part of the plan”, but have now been brought forward due to the speed of Codemasters’ integration into EA’s studios.

Both Codemasters and its Slightly Mad studio (Project Cars) will join the EA Sports umbrella, it said. Slightly Mad will continue to be led by studio CEO Ian Bell, while Codemasters’ SVP of product development Clive Moody and SVP of publishing Jonathan Bunney will take over the running of the company.

So will EA just combine these teams and make them make Need for Speed games 3 years from now?
 

jigglet

Banned
lol let's be real here, if Apex wasn't the breakout hit that it was, does anyone really believe things would have been peachy off the back of the terrible Titanfall 2 sales? I mean forget poorly timed release date. EA won't accept that excuse. Apex is why they are given special treatment, otherwise they'd be as dead as Westwood.
 
The biggest problem is that Respawn is basically the only example of keeping their identity once consumed by the EA machine. Talk is cheap, and EA has a history filled with excellent studios which are now dead studios
 

jaysius

Banned
Respawn now makes F2P games, they used to make big budget retail games...
Internet Arthur GIF


They should have been asked/told to make a new IP with all the same mechanics but then given a huge EAesque hype parade, to ensure sales were better then TF2.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Did Respawn really retain their identity? Two flops and they were making a Star Wars Uncharted/Souls game.

The games weren't flops though. The lack of sales is on EA. That's LITERALLY EA's job is to help sell the game that a developer makes. Especially if that game is good.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
The games weren't flops though. The lack of sales is on EA. That's LITERALLY EA's job is to help sell the game that a developer makes. Especially if that game is good.

I don’t know, the first one was heavily pushed by MS and even though it wasn’t a big hit, EA spent more money on the sequel. It simply didn’t resonate with a larger audience.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
I don’t know, the first one was heavily pushed by MS and even though it wasn’t a big hit, EA spent more money on the sequel. It simply didn’t resonate with a larger audience.

I'd say that was due to EA screwing up the release schedule for Titanfall 2 though. That's not on Respawn. Trust......there's no way in the world EA would let Respawn go to get signed to Sony. Almost everyone would recognize that as being better for Respawn if that were to happen.

EA recognizes the gem that they have in Respawn.
 
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