Traditional publishers "set for extinction"

Codemasters will become a major player in the digital space thanks to a heavy-duty investment deal.

Indian games giant Reliance Big Entertainment bought a 50 per cent stake in the firm earlier this week. It has a market capital of around $81 million and is already established in the MMO, online casual game and mobile spaces.

Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens has told MCV that the British publisher will use the partnership to move away from traditional publishing and grow its digital offer.

A traditional games publisher with a distribution infrastructure is no longer the model. It is the model of the dinosaurs,” he said.

We have positioned ourselves well for the future. We’ve focused on franchises that are proven. We have an online infrastructure that companies far bigger than ours haven’t got – which has been extremely beneficial in terms of our alignments with Reliance. And we are now addressing emerging markets.

I think all of those aspects are points that other companies have yet to address.”

The deal with Reliance is likely to see Codemasters properties – including Dirt, Grid and Cricket – appear as new online and mobile titles.

This deal secures the long-term future of Codemasters,” Cousens added.

Staff at Codemasters can walk around with their heads held high, and no-longer consider themselves this small unknown. Those that have sat in the fast lane to date, move over.”