British video game company Codemasters, known for its racing games, has announced plans to sell to Take-Two Interactive.
Codemasters, the video game studio that developed the Dirt Rally series and Formula 1 licenses, said US giant Take-Two Interactive has offered a deal to acquire it, valuing the company at $973 million.
The company, founded in the UK and currently headquartered in Southam, Warwickshire, said it will recommend the offer to its shareholders. The announcement was made by Codemasters in conjunction with the release of its latest game, Dirt 5.
Codemasters and the Take-Two buyout
While Codemasters has become known for its current focus on racing games, the video game studio has done various other notable franchises in the past.
In the Spectrum and Commodore era, the company came up with the Dizzy series of platforming games, as well as several sports titles. In the 1990s, it created its successful Micro Machines franchise and published but did not develop the British-made sports games Brian Lara Cricket and Jonah Lomu Rugby.
Under the buyout deal, Codemasters will receive £1.20 in cash and £3.65 in Take-Two shares for every one of its share.
However, the deal has not been finalized yet and no "firm offer" has been officially made by Take-Two. Both companies confirmed the deal's existence after several reports of the possible buyout were made.
Take-Two stated: "Take-Two believes that the combination of Take-Two and Codemasters would bring together two world-class interactive entertainment portfolios, with a highly complementary fit between 2K and Codemasters in the racing genre."
Fortnite may return to Apple devices
In other gaming news, users of Apple devices could soon be able to play Fortnite again via the Nvidia cloud gaming service GeForce Now.
The GeForce Now cloud gaming service has been developed by Nvidia to run on mobile web browser Safari in Apple devices, which could allow them to play the popular battle royale fighting game Fortnite.
In August, Tech giant Apple decided to ban Epic Games’ Fortnite  following a game update that allowed players to purchase in-game currency at a lower rate if they bought directly from Epic, effectively bypassing Apple.
Using the App Store, Apple takes a standard 30% cut of sales from its compulsory payment system. Apple said Epic had taken the "unfortunate step of violating the App Store guidelines".
Unlike Android devices, Apple prohibits games or other apps to be installed on to its phones or tablets via app stores other than its own. However, it does not have restrictions on which third-party services can be run within Safari or other web browsers available on its store.
Currently, Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud service is available on Mac, Windows, Android and Chromebook computers. While there has been no formal announcements yet on its launch of the service on the iOS, Nvidia is expected to do so prior to the winter holidays.
However, there is still a possibility that the company may exclude Fortnite from its lineup of games available for Apple devices.
An Nvidia spokesperson said: "Nvidia is not commenting on any new clients coming to the service, or on the availability of any game on unannounced or unreleased platforms. Fortnite is not confirmed for GeForce Now on platforms beyond PC, Mac and Android."
