Breaking News: Slightly Mad Studios Bought by Codemasters

[Nevini]

Oh well, I suppose the next version of PC will no longer have mouse support.

 

[UMC 22]

Automobalista 2 is safe, right ?

The licenses for AMS 2 are already in place. You can't just take over a company and mess with things like that, so yeah, it's safe.

 

[Proto 3.0]

Goodbye SMS, you must be dead and all your franchises. So the market decided. You will never catch up with Kunos, even with Codemasters. Goodbye era...
Reiza, you need a good sponsor otherwise you are in the same cemetery.

 

[thepharcyde]

I always said they were simcade.

 

[Zytok]

Didn't mean to like the above post. Lazy criticism as usual

 

[safi hellie]

I find it a bit odd that some people talk of evil big corps destroying indi devs.
If some big corp wanted to pay you 15 million for a 2 bedroom house you can hardly then moan about them making you homeless....
Ian has made loads of money.
but the truth is in gaming terms this is a bargain basement sale, i wonder how much it is of them getting into trouble and codies saving their staff....
Regardless we will never hear of PCars again or SMS....

List of largest video game mergers and acquisitions - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Do codies know about Ian's form though?

"They (EA) had a clause in the contract that they would own the technology. And I wrote a clause to say you can own all the technology, except for the third-party technology, such as things like FMod, that's a separate company, you can't own that..

So before I signed the deal with them, I moved all of our technology into a separate company called Middleware Limited. I didn't tell EA. So when they came to try to steal our tech later, I said, 'No, that's a third-party owned tech. That all belongs to Middleware Limited,' which I owned 100 per cent. You own nothing, EA. That's not your tech, that's a third-party owned tech.' "

 

[schlitty]

Should be good news all around. Both are capable of making fun racing games.

As arm chair Codies CEO I would;
1. Release the "Hollywood" SMS project with extra "game" aspects that Codies can bring to it.
2. Combine PC3 with the Grid franchise and release Project CARS: GRID in late 2020.
3. Use what I can from SMS to improve the next iterations of DiRT and F1 (VR, etc etc).
4. Profit.

Seems simple enough.

 

[sentry87]

As a Pcars fan I can't help but feel more negative than positive about this news. Codemasters gain an advanced tire model, good ui, triple screen support. SMS gain financial backing, and what maybe licenses?

 

[michelforest]

Does it mean that the SMS console (Mad Box) is also dead?

 

[ermo]

Didn't mean to like the above post. Lazy criticism as usual

You can 'unlike' posts you know? Just click on the 'Like' button again.

 

[ermo]

Does it mean that the SMS console (Mad Box) is also dead?

Yes, but that was dead before then IIRC (something about a trademark issue and investors dropping the idea when Google Stadia game-streaming was launched).

 

[ermo]

Do codies know about Ian's form though?

"They (EA) had a clause in the contract that they would own the technology. And I wrote a clause to say you can own all the technology, except for the third-party technology, such as things like FMod, that's a separate company, you can't own that..

So before I signed the deal with them, I moved all of our technology into a separate company called Middleware Limited. I didn't tell EA. So when they came to try to steal our tech later, I said, 'No, that's a third-party owned tech. That all belongs to Middleware Limited,' which I owned 100 per cent. You own nothing, EA. That's not your tech, that's a third-party owned tech.' "

Ha! Serves those greedy bastards from EA well enough. EA is rightly reviled for their predatory and cut-throat approach to the game industry, so I for one applaud Ian for having the foresight and gumption to one up EA's contract lawyers.

 

[thepharcyde]

Surprised the competition commission has not voided the takeover re monopolising the 'Arcade' market

 

[Chobonator]

Surprised the competition commission has not voided the takeover re monopolising the 'Arcade' market

I think Onrush was abandoned.

 

[Patrik Marek]

Looking forward to see what sort of games come up from this. I would imagine SMS would still have freedom over what sort of games they want to make, but probably not full freedom "how they want to make them" , so it could be potentially bad too
on the other hand though, they will be getting lot of extra tools/workflows/software from Codies, and who knows, F1 series can benefit from SMS engine and skills

probably bit better for Codies then SMS but of cousrse! why else would they buy them if they didn't benefit from it

 

[David Wright]

No! It is never a good thing that one big studio buys out another. It just means that they eat their competition and kill off their product. Why Ian why? You guys where doing great and I was waiting for PC3. I love your sim. I play it every chance I get. This is bad news for me. I don't like any of Code Masters new titles. I only play Dirt 2 and Dirt Rally every now and then. I hate DR 2s staggered DLC. SMS gave you a better bargain with their stuff. I bought DR 2 as a pre-order and then found out about the progress being locked to online only. I tried to get my money back, but it was too late. I have not even downloaded it because of this BS. Grid has lots of nice looking cars, but no real feel. I wanted SMS to make Project CARS 3 the Good Wood FOS of the sim industry. I am truly heartbroken by this bad news. Like the death of a loved one.

Why would Codies kill off SMS's titles? Project Cars doesn't compete with any of Codies titles, and compared to most Codies titles, Project Cars sells more copies. The Fast & Furious game will possibly overlap with GRID but given the sales disaster Grid has been, I can't see Codies worrying too much about that.

 

[Zoltan76]

AMS 2 being delayed makes me wonder if it was because of this. This is all bad in my opinion. I think that like has been previously stated. Anytime a product has 12 old men discussing their millions in bank, while sitting around a table. Whatever they come up with, is never going to be in benefit of the people outside of that 12 man group.

AMS has nothing to do with neither Codemasters nor SMS. I don't understand worries.

 

[Michel Bélisle]

One positive in this, could be that, they might be able to share licensed material between the two units. Modern formula 1 cars with authentic liveries in the Project Cars franchise and SMS licensed material being used by Codies.

 

[safi hellie]

One positive in this, could be that, they might be able to share licensed material between the two units. Modern formula 1 cars with authentic liveries in the Project Cars franchise and SMS licensed material being used by Codies.

It is not a merger though is it. Codies have purchased them for a bargain price.
Codies have purchased a dev and all it's people and IP i assume...
Why would codies wan to try to sell PC3??

They could simply asset strip, so people tech etc etc. I imagine part of any deal would be to keep Ian Bell well away from the the codemasters brand with his bullshit.
He'll walk away with millions and be back crowdfunding for "the best sim ever!!!" in 2020...

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

There are many similiar bugs in iRacing, rF2, AC, ACC and others ... so thats that.
iRacing has the worst tire model of all sims, worse by far than pCARS or pCARS 2, this is a fact.

Please - show us these "facts". This ought to be good for a laugh...