Layoffs at Codemasters Confirmed as Developer Halts All Work on Rally Racing Games

Studio closure incoming then.

There we have it they will get Code masters into something else a new Burnout would be nice a remake or remaster of Burnout revenge please

This reads as "WRC didn't do the numbers, so now we only make F1 games", which is a bummer as it eventually became a very good rally game.

I called it back when it was announced that EA had bought codemasters. I said it would be the end of codemasters and it looks like I was right. EA wrc is a really good rally game although the switch from the ego engine to the unreal engine was a huge mistake in my opinion. For anybody out there looking to start rallying on the ps5 I strongly recommend dirt 2.0 as that is the best in class on consoles. This is a sad thing to hear as I've been playing codemasters games since my spectrum 48k days..

@Nakatomi_Uk but they have criterion for that right? Let's face it the dirt and burnout franchises are dead because EA want nfs to be the racing series people play..

@Northern_munkey I think the original dirt rally (PS4) was their best game with dirt 2.0 a close second and ea wrc not far behind,hopefully we might see a dirt rally 3 in the future

@MrPeanutbutterz got to say you are Bob on mate..EA wrc is still a bit rough around the edges but it's in a much better state than when it launched. I mainly play dirt 2.0 and EA wrc and to be honest I'm really invested in both titles especially as I have a sim rig now.

@JP80 was dirt rally on the ps4?

@JP80 indeed it was..thankyou for bringing this to my attention..£5 on ebay is a buy..cheers👍

@Northern_munkey no worries imo it's their best game but can see why others prefer dirt 2.0 but for me dirt rally is just grittier,and captures the atmosphere of rally perfectly and again imo is the best force feedback through a wheel they've done...enjoy 👍

@Northern_munkey Yeah this seems to be EA's MO - ruthless chop the titles that don't quite land, double down on the ones that do. I do wonder/fear how long before Codies themselves are for the chopping block? Would be absolutely bizarre not to have the company that gave us Micro Machines on the Megadrive or Colin McRae Rally on PS1 (playing the Greek stages absolutely blew my mind) no longer exist.

WRC is indeed a wee bit rough still, but I bought it around Christmas for about €15, which considering the quality and quantity of content, almost felt like theft.

I don't have a sim-rig but agree Dirt Rally 2.0 is the best rally game going. I must get back to it a bit to tickle the bottom of the leaderboards again 😂

More bad news. And this was where the former Evolution Studio (Motorstorm, Driveclub, Onrush) guys went too so I guess there aren't many of those guys left there now.

Also a bit sad for the type of racing games I prefer, as I have little interest in F1 on the sim side and I disliked Forza Horizon on the arcade side.

Sad to hear especially as I really like the Rally series but I’ve pretty much stopped buying racing games unless PSVR2 is supported, Dirt Rally on PSVR1 was awesome (no update available for VR2).

@MrPeanutbutterz I think I bought EA wrc for about £25 not long after it was released. I bought wrc generations first but the handling of the cars is so damn floaty but it looks and sounds so much better than EA wrc. Dirt 2.0 is the one to go for and if you do decide to dip your toes in again hit me up as I'm always up for starting up a rally group.

So EA bought Codemasters just to keep them away from other publishers and eventually ruin and potentially close them? Got it. Not the LEAST bit surprised.

I called it the moment EA bought them.
Having been part of Bullfrog and experienced what EA do to companies first hand, I remember posting on this very site that they wouldn't be making these games very much longer.
The Companies that EA have destroyed in this way make a very impressive list:
Visceral (Dead Space) - shut down in 2017
Mythic (Dark Age of Camelot) - Purchased by EA in 2006; shut down in 2014.
Bullfrog (Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper) - Purchased by EA in 1995; shut down in 2001.
Origin (Ultima, Wing Commander) - Purchased by EA in 1992; shut down in 2004.
Westwood (Command & Conquer) - Purchased by EA in 1998; shut down in 2003.
DreamWorks Interactive/Danger Close/EA Los Angeles (Medal of Honor) - Purchased by EA in 2000; shut down in 2013.
Phenomic (SpellForce, BattleForge) - Purchased by EA in 2006; shut down in 2013.
Black Box Games (Need for Speed, Skate) - Purchased by EA in 2002; shut down in 2013.
Pandemic (The Saboteur) - Purchased by EA in 2008; shut down in 2009.
PlayFish (The Sims Social) - Purchased by EA in 2009; shut down in 2013.
NuFX (NBA Street) - Purchased by EA in 2004; shut down in 2007.

I'm sure there are plenty of others. Being acquired by EA is the beginning of the end.

@Titntin they have the touch of death..

@Northern_munkey I did karate for years when I was kid, but they never taught me that one 🤣

Dirt Rally 2.0 and WRC Generations are much better games than WRC 23/24, but it still pains me to see Codemasters on their way to the death row for EA owned studios. That said, no rally game has topped WRC4 from Evolution (rip) for me and I’m glad I can still play it via PS2 emulation on PC. I wish Kylotonn had not been stripped of the WRC license. You have to wonder what kind of future do rally games have at this point.

@gollumb82 the main advantage of EA WRC Rally is that the game is more beginner friendly. I understand why fans prefer Dirt 2.0, but for a casual driver experience, the last WRC game is more fun.

I just bought EA WRC, I love Codemasters Rally games. This is sad to hear. People like to rave on about old games being better than new ones, I still have DiRT Rally installed, still play it but I want a new and sweeter looking version which is this. For some reason I enjoy these Rally games for their dirt and damage than Gran Turismo which looks too unrealistically clean with no damage.

@Titntin 🤣

@TheArt if wrc generations had better handling via my steering wheel I'd rate that over EA wrc but no matter how I set it up its just too light and floaty. Dirt 2.0 looks amazing and the control with the wheel is just brilliant. If generations had the handling of dirt 2.0 I think that would be the rally game to beat (on consoles anyway.) All 3 games have something for everyone. Maybe I need to give generations another go but that handling is really odd.

Translation: It doesn’t make us enough money anymore, so tough luck if you like it.

Such a shame, i think wrc24 is a gem, very good sim style rally game, very generous too in content, and features.

@Medic_alert
I used to love the Dizzy games on my old Speccy!

@gollumb82 agree. the WRC series seemed to be ticking along quite nicely until EA came wading in and threw money at the licence.

I guess there isn't enough interest in WRC to make it viable - particularly in terms of EA's desire to monetise it via their usual methods.

Whereas Kylotonn were doing it on a more sustainable and less predatory lower budget....and ironically doing it better. Generations was better than the new Codemasters game.

Guessing they were perhaps spread a bit thin, and the A-team were working on the F1 game.

@Medic_alert
I dont think I had a favourite, except that I much preferred the standard Dizzy adventure games, as opposed to the other non adventure 1-offs.

@Cornpop76 personally I found the kylotonn games to be poor,you could say it had great course design but apart from that code masters beats it in every department,it actually felt like you were driving a rally car around a course,not a fridge freezer.

@Northern_munkey The EA graveyard is getting bigger and bigger. We see it happen a lot studio gets bought even if a game sells well its get brought to the back to put down. I think we are going to see a crash soon the greed is totally out of control now.

Hopefully the license goes back to KT and can keep getting the yearly plat.

ROFL! Why did they bother getting the license then? Gonna give up after one title.

Just continue making dirt games. It's clear that was the established brand needed. EA is in shambles nowadays lol. They go from bad decisions to worse. Maybe it's time to sack the executives making these decisions? No? Of course not. Close the studio instead. That will make the money. 🙄
Honestly, EA has to come to grips with the fact that it's not a huge publisher anymore. They have to accept that all their games aren't going to sell gangbusters above 4m copies. All they got is FC now. Even that has been in decline and their answer is to close studios and downsize even more when they need to rethink how they approach the market. They time of EA and Activision giants is over. They need to understand what they are now. Time to reduce budgets and be ok with modest hits (probably until they grow and ruin it all again).

So what are they going to make then? I thought EA bought them for WRC like other sports games.

Grid Legends flopped based on like Titanfall 2 bad EA release dates. So.... what's next? I supported Grid Legends around the time Gamepass came out I bought it for $30. I refuse to support GT 7/Forza Motorsport 23 slop even if GT7 has more event variety it still sucks of progression.

Or is it just focus on Dirt series/Dirt Rally series?

Dirt or whatever they make better have that customisation with chassis and more it's what intrigued me of WRC 23 I haven't bought it yet but still.

I want more Sega GT Dreamcast/Pure ATV PS3/360 type idea in games, or good progression.

Every Indie/AAA/AA racing game I see sucks at progression, boring motorsport nostalgia I don't care for then substance and inflates their 2 modes.

Even Grid Legends did but even besides the eh upgrade requirements of level 2 or whatever and the boring upgrades of the mechanics/other skill tree nonsense I still got through it besides how who cares the systems were and the decent story that didn't do anything really.

At least it played well. Not GT3/PGR2 & 3 good but for modern era was fine. I hate how Grid Autosport plays and get put off by it every time I want to play it.

Even the less drivers (on your team, but even then I hate 20+ cars on the track I prefer the gaps 5 have, I hate more then 8, to me it's just more obstacles of bad AI and I just don't like it. Even with TOCA I found it just pointless AI or obstacles they were in that era even to today with racing games) on the track did basically nothing.

Yet in a Tactics game did more but then again even Diofield Chronicle did that a few times and was generic for most of the game so what do I know devs just don't care to put gameplay first and put presentation and lacking modes and too much focus on physics and the games are boring as ever with either like Ride 4/MotoGP games bad AI or ok AI that Grid games have but in other games generic tracks, generic presentation, fair physics (unless RIMS which goes way too far) and just inflated hour counts for nothing of content to do.

I mean sure... but Dirt 5 was trash, the amount of gymkhana included was what 2 maybe 3, I barely noticed, barely any other modes and was so boring of races/point a to b stages if there even were any I barely remember it's so forgettable. Having objectives for events isn't exciting. Having mode variety and things to DO on the tracks does. It's why Forza bowling/drifting/drag/auto cross and more are exciting, let alone WRC 3 PS3/360 was.

3 had more depth and 5 felt empty. I haven't played 4 or Showdown yet though. 2 was ok, not as good as people hype it up but I'm a gameplay type.

To me WRC 3 PS3/360, Pure ATV PS3/360 and Dirt 3 are the only rally games I wanted to binge their modes/event types, tracks and more were excellent with fair physics/design to them.

Besides like GT series rally being ok of good tracks and 1 opponent but still fun, but rally is so minimal in GT games these days.

Gravel kind of varies there but is still just a Grid Legends kind of it's good for the modern era but still isn't that amazing as the others even besides the TV show type presentation.

Part 2:
Wreckfest is ok..... Felt like Flatout but mixed with Shift 1 levels of accessibility of event access (half the game then end game is open.... sure) but not as event exciting because again races/derbies, 2 modes, 20 hours, pretty boring.

But I played Wreckfest as if it was a no upgrades or other cars run. I had access to half the game and end game was open..... I could play it more properly with upgrades and the other vehicles. But I mean, I left my save at that point to prove. I usually only do this on repeat playthroughs of games like a GT or something. Not the main playing method of a game for the first time. Yeah game design these days may be accessible but also superficial as well. Doesn't make me want to engage in their systems very much is my point.

I found the PSP version of Dirt 2 better. But like anything, to me HD versions are overrated and the PS2/Wii/PSP versions are usually better.

@Flaming_Kaiser EA are fast becoming my least favourite company. They are nothing but franchise killers to me at this moment in time. The only game I'm interested in from them is the new battlefield title but they will probably ***** that up as well.

Being a local studio to me just up the road I was saddened when they chose to go with EA and hopefully this doesn't mean that they're going to be closed

@Nakatomi_Uk I was hoping three Fields entertainment would follow up dangerous driving with a sequel but nothing's happened since 2019

@Northern_munkey Dirt Rally 2.0 is one of the highlights of last gen for me. Massively, massively underrated game

@Gremio108 it is excellent. Even though its never going to get a ps5 upgrade it still runs 60fps in ps4 pro mode and is just stunning. I could sing its praises all day but I'll probably get banned for promoting things..

@Northern_munkey Well someone's got to promote it! When people talk about immersion in gaming, I think of Dirt Rally. And I've only ever played it with a controller, god knows what it's like with a wheel

@Gremio108 it's a whole different experience. I could never go back to controller.

Yeah people who've tried it swear by them. I've always meant to grab one but there's always been something else to buy, you know? I'll get one at some point.

@Gremio108 be careful..I bought a thrustmaster t150 with a stand off ebay for £150 with the mindset being if I didn't like it I'd make my money back by reselling it..now I'm invested in a racing cockpit to the tune of £260 and I'm currently saving for the t598 wheel which is £450 but I might hold out and get the fanatec wheel. Now I'm a born again petrol head..oooh just bought forza horizon 5 as well 🤣

Sad news. It is my favorite kind of game. DR 2.0 was GREAT, but the EA WRCwas great too. The gameplay is SO addictive! I hope the licence wil land at a new developer! Please please!

@Northern_munkey Haha I'll bear that in mind. Could almost buy an real live old banger at that rate

@Northern_munkey Yeah even as a pad player I found Generations kinda floaty. Which is a bummer as there's a lot to like in the game... which is - funnily enough - one of the reasons I moved on from DR2.0 re; the single player structure.

I really must download it again (especially as I own all the expansions) as it's genuinely top of the class where it matters, namely the gameplay.

@MrPeanutbutterz that is the only negative about dirt 2.0 is the single player aspect. However the daily,weekly,monthly and community based challenges are still very much alive and kicking and the clubs are still up and running (I just joined a cool Youtubers rally club.) He started a championship for his subbers to take part in yesterday with the first 4 stages set in Wales. I'm sitting in a pretty good position at the moment. Next up is Scotland in 5 days and I won't do well there. I often think that pushsquare should have their own community championship as its very easy to set up and I'm certain there would be more than enough members being willing to partake..

@Northern_munkey Ah, across all of the modern rally games, I think Wales in DR1+2 is my favourite setting.

Good to hear that they still have those events running. Wonder when EA will decide it's a legacy thing and "sunset" (ugh) those features...

I really must redownload it, though the sun is out here and it's a long weekend, so maybe not this week!

So very sad. Codemasters are legends in the gaming community! They should all give EA the finger and restart.

In memoriam:
Origin Systems, Maxis, Westwood, Bullfrog, Black Box, Criterion, Tiburon, Visceral, Mythic, Pandemic, BioWare and Codemasters.
Thank you to all the wonderful artists and creators.

I don’t know what makes a developer sell their souls to EA. The amount of amazing studios that they shut down or Gut to within an inch of its existence is unreal…

@Bionic-Spencer cash money that’s what tragic ain’t it

Too bad. Loved the Toca game on PS1.

It's not going to happen but companies like Codemasters need to be released from EA and given some kind of independent status and government funding. If just for the sake of saving homegrown studios before someone like EA runs them into the ground.

So what did we learn today?

Electronic Arts are destroying the games industry.

R.I.P. Codies just glad I have physical copies on PS4 ....eFootball 2021 disappeared from PS Store and my Library.

E.A. should be boycotted from Gamers ...real gamers know all about their Shenanigans.

Evil, Actually strike again...

I really enjoy the Codemasters racing games. I have been playing them for 15 years. Most notably the Dirt series from Dirt 1 (2008) through to Dirt Rally & Rally 2.0 are my favourite. As an F1 fan as well the F1 games are good from Codemasters. I get the feeling this would happen when EA bought Codemasters. The CEO at Codemasters shouldn't haven't accepted EA's offer in 2021. I guess this will be the end of the one the best former UK independent studios before EA bought.

@Number09 I have my physical media from Codemasters games. From the F1 from 2010 - 2024 & all Dirt games also from the PS1 & PS2 with Touring Cars. People get used to digital media and moan when a game gets a delisting. One of the good advantages of physical media, when a game is delisted, that game on disc is yours with a version 1.0 to play offline no matter what! Codemasters nor EA can't take that away from us both.

@GirlVersusGame From what i know Codemasters have always been independent well before EA bought the studio in 2021. They survived long enough for many decades, making good racing game i grew up on. From F1 to Dirt, Touring Cars ect... EA is awful firm & seeing this is not good at all. I think F1 25 might be the last F1 game made by Codemasters in the UK & the last published by EA if the agreement isn't done with Formula 1 management. I'd hate to lose the F1 games after playing since the PS3 days from 2010.

I would also point out that some Codies employees were laid of just after WRC release in December 2023, so at that time, the future of EA WRC already became uncertain.

It r(e)ally looks bad for this genre, Codemasters also hired many people from Evolution Studios when Sony closed them, so it was such a powerhouse at this point.

I am just curious how will it turn out with F1 series now. It definitely seems that they are laying off developers rather than beefing the F1 team.

@Medic_alert Yeah, seeing the Codemasters logo on Amstrad games was as high a mark of quality as seeing the Electronic Arts logo on a Mega Drive game, which is doubly tragic given the circumstances of this article.

This is sad. Codemasters were consistently at the top of their game. The only criticism I could level at their games were they were so good changes were always incremental, kind of like yearly sports games. I hope they can survive all of this, as they are extremely talented developers.

EA, where studios go to die.

EA WRC was really poor. I got the plat for dirt rally 2.0 in anticipation of it releasing and was massively disappointed.

Wonder if KT will take the license back again.

@AshleighKinsella so refreshing to see many people talk about the Toca series.

Took a Subaru out yesterday, felt sooooo good, the vibrations feeling like I'm actually driving. The dynamic weather changing in the middle of the course, going at top speed, my car getting dirty transitioning to muddy, all the while trying not to wreck the car with its realistic damage detail unlike most racers I know. Graphics is just superb. Codemasters are just so good at this.

@Number09 Absolutely! My dad bought it me as wee girl. It was my very first game on the PS2, mind you i was absolutely dreadful lol. Nowadays I'm not too bad 😅.

So in other words, Codemasters is as good as dead. That´s a shame since they made plenty of quality racing games. I feel like EA bought them for F1 and ONLY F1.

Worth also mentioning that with such closure, we are loosing the knowledge about how to create realistic simulation models to replicate the physics of cars, sound, etc... These people were good in science, not just gaming.

I was always disappointed with this game. Preferred the old Dirt games. Now a days WRC10 is my go-to.

Noooooo!! Codemasters Rally games are the best!! Such beautiful games!! I’m still trying to finish Dirt 4 and hope to finally move on to the next one! Terrible news!!! 😡

Update to my eFootball 2021 disappearing out of my library and this accounts for all games that go missing.
Log into the P.S.Store online not on your PS4 and you will be presented with all the digital games you have purchased...even the ones that no longer appear in the P.S.Store or your library.
Click download turn on your PS4 And it will be there for you to download.

Unfortunate for the staff and such series sales, relevance, EA's demands and more. If they focus on Dirt/Dirt Rally sure. Grid is likely dead and if no WRC we still have the whatever extent of F1. EA's demands are eh and the devs creativity is baffling and they do what they can with licenses or audiences are particular or bad marketing. I'm not buying these games they aren't creative enough or probably too AI difficult.

To me I haven't bought WRC 23 or 24 as I don't know what to think of them, screenshots/marketing is terrible with generic screenshots that never show menus (in any games ever this era so why would i be interested if I don't know what modes, what menu design and structure they have, just generic track/car screenshots on storefronts is useless to me and video footage by Youtubers is just as useless because they always show in races, when it's not what I want to see) and I'm not buying full price or even minor for it.

if the car builder is what I think it is, sure, if it's not what I wanted, then pass on that. Sega GT/Pure like or else no sale.

Grid, and any other third party or even Forza Motorsport series have been about classes and other garbage progression for years, offering less modes, focusing on car brands demands and physics and I find all of it boring, dull and toned down each and every year for the racing genre.

I will when they are cheaper like $30 range or something. I wasn't that big on them and if the ideas in them are weak why would I bother. I'd probably spend less on them, try them out and sell them or keep them to collect like I have past ones. Or other WRC/F1/MotoGP ones to have for reference even if I buy games to play not to always collect.

But to me this quote is a load of nonsense. Even the PGR2 quote of oh audiences want dream cars more accessible, still has relevance years later. I get other games had arcade modes with cars easily accessible, but to me the progression of PGR2 was fine but others want their brands/cars/tracks and what not. I don't I want a game not a wish-fulfillment simulator for brain dead people saying I want this brand/product please or to re-experience a car they once had. I don't care about any of that because that's not substance to me. I don't get excited when my car is in games because I want a game first.

I'd rather play R Racing, Enthusia, Sega GT Dreamcast over modern era trash. More mechanically interesting games. But audiences don't want mechanically interesting just their wheel, their favourite tracks/cars and to drive them. I want a game and we don't get racing 'games' anymore. Not to my standard of the definition anyway. Just things to fuel car makers demands and pubs demands for a genre that's so bad and bland these days. Expensive cars/advertising/tracks sure but even then make fictional ones.

MotoGP3 had 20 fictional tracks and Namco cameos. Like come on.

Wreckfest is just modern Flatout/fictional vehicles and has less modes and is 20 hours of pathetic 2 modes done to death and goes we have a sofa/lawn mower and more. They are fun sure but substance why completely pointless and add nothing to the progression.

Part 2:
Indies are fictional vehicles but so motorsport obsessive I find them disgusting. Motorsports love first game design second and it shows. They are as bad as platformer Indies, too much cute characters and boring game design so repetitive and bland their inspirations/underskilled talent shows how bad they are. A waste of time for the industry and audiences expectations are too low and eat up this garbage.

What a joke quote.

"As a business, we are constantly evolving to meet the growing needs of our players and driving greater focus across our portfolio,” reads a statement from the publisher, sent to VGC. “This has led us to look at reducing some roles, while we redeploy as many as possible against our strategic priorities."

They aren't meeting my needs and many dev ideas, AAA, AA or trash Indies so pathetic or ideas should they bother with their motorsport interest and bad game design because they don't have any creative ideas, or publisher demands are terrible.

The creativity is so weak in any genre especially racing games (regardless of how annual ones can do things) I just can't be bothered supporting such uncreative garbage.

I think the racing genre has been garbage since 7th gen and 8th gen was classes structure then better strategy or progression to focus on MTX and fast cars quicker (not just arcade modes easy access but even career modes, defeating the point of them) for those audiences not other audiences that represent progression and more then just motorsports rally or otherwise that they mostly focus on and non-racing fans go why should I buy this. I don't blame them. If it weren't that I grew up with racing games I'd probably say why should I care to.

In many cases I do just am more picky with my game choices on mechanics not going oh a car/locations been to before. Because I care about progression/mechanics/track design not cars and physics unless they are horrible. Because I'm not a motorsports fans I'm a gamer first and enjoy cars secondary.

I treat cars as characters in racing games as I would any other playable character and what I'd like to use them for of movesets, not some brands/dreaming people do, I don't even care about.

The physics vary but get WAY too much focus and progression, choices of cars, and tracks are just a waste in 8th/9th gen racing games I refuse to fund them.

While WRC/F1/MotoGP all vary as annual games I haven't seen a better one then WRC3 for PS3/360 with progression. To me 2's management and progression was fair but 3's was the best I ever played. While Ride 4/MotoGP16 from my experience are horrible of AI I know as the Ride 3 was good and MotoGP16's dirt/rally car AI is better then the MotoGP AI so figure that one out. XD

Dirt 5 was garbage, it felt like Dirt 3 (Dirt 2 seems overrated in comparison and I find not that great really, the PSP one people would go eh to I think was more front an centre of it's modes so it's more compelling, I don't buy games based on car brands, or physics or what vibe it has or any other locations/nonsense I do on modes, progression and physics, if modes/progression aren't met no sale) but less Gymkhana to like 2-3 so less event variety to cut back on THE THING I HATE ABOUT MODERN GAMES IS LESS MODES AND BEING BLAND AND REPETITIVE FOR 20+ HOURS DEVS AND PUBS/EXECS, and just so many repeats of tracks, eh mix up of event types that all blended together and eh objectives.

Part 3:
So basically some of the most bland PS3/360 type design sorry I mean those are better and it's bland PS4/Xbox One design of the PS5/Xbox Series era. Racing games suck these days Indies and AA/AAA nostalgic, brand/motorsport theming first and gameplay sucks because of it.

Gravel/Grid Legends were just as bland but still made me want to beat them even Grid Legends platinum. But that's exceptions besides how bland they are. Most are far more bland.

Besides the car builder in WRC 23 that I have heard of but don't know a lot about (even Apex/Racing Evoluzione on OG Xbox confused me how it's worked but it's no Sega GT Dreamcast/Pure ATV PS3/360 that's for sure) so I may but otherwise eh.

I gave my Grid Legends $30 then Gamepass or PS+ and didn't buy the DLCs as I don't care for DLC.