Update []: An EA spokesperson has gotten in touch with us to debunk the rumours surrounding Codemasters. Ultimately, this is very good news and we’re happy that Codemasters will continue for the foreseeable future.
Here’s the statement in full:
“The speculation around Codemasters is entirely unfounded and inaccurate.”
So there you have it! Carry on.
Original Story: It’s been a little while since any Codemasters-developed game made its way to a Nintendo system; in fact, the latest one may well have been F1 Race Stars: Powered Up Edition for the Wii U in 2014. But the iconic studio has been a staunch support of Nintendo in the past, developing and publishing games for the Wii, DS, SNES, NES, and more. Remember Micro Machines V3? Good stuff, man.
The studio hasn’t been doing so well recently. EA confirmed recently that Codemasters would no longer work on the WRC series, with employees either laid off or moved to other projects as a result. Now, according to a post from X user @eXtas1stv, EA may be looking to shut down Codemasters entirely, moving affected employees over to new projects in the F1 and Need for Speed franchises.
“The cancellation of Black Panther will NOT be the only thing.
“I have been able to learn that there are about 400 more layoffs coming up at EA, a total CLOSURE of the main headquarters of Codemasters and that these developers will be integrated into EA Sp (F1) and a new Need For Speed that is already in development.”
EA’s really doing a number on its employees recently, having also shut down development on a Black Panther game and subsequently closing down Cliffhanger Games. The studio was formed by ex-Monolith Productions staff, and that name might also sound familiar, because guess what… Warner shut it down earlier this year. Sigh…
We’d be incredibly sad to see Codemasters go, and frankly, we’ve got our fingers crossed that someone at EA will come out of the woodwork and say that it’s all just been one big misunderstanding. Something tells us that it’s probably not, though…