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Codemasters (1986>) (Reliance Big Entertainment 2003>)


Codemasters Software Company Ltd., or Codemasters Birmingham or CodeMasters (earlier known as Code Masters) is a British video game developer and publisher founded by David Darling and his brother Richard in 1986. Headquartered in Southam, Warwickshire, Codemasters is one of the oldest surviving British game studios, and in 2005 was named the top independent games developer by Develop magazine.

David Darling CBE (born 17 June 1966 in London) is a British video game developer and entrepreneur, known for co-founding Codemasters, with his brother Richard Darling, and for being involved in a long succession of top ten games over more than 30 years. He is now founder and CEO of smartphone app developer and publisher Kwalee.


Early life

David's father was a contact lens pioneer married to an Australian, they had 7 children. In his early life David lived on three continents, in the UK, in the Netherlands, in Australia, in France and in Canada, before finally settling in Crewkerne, Somerset. While in France, the family lived on a boat and travelled through the country, settling for a time in Cap d'Agde.

David attended 14 different schools in this time including Wadham School where he took classes in Computer Studies. His teacher, Mr. Evans, once told him to, "Stop programming games – it's a waste of time!" David would often stay behind after school to program, as there was only one keyboard available in the classroom. During the day he would have to use punch cards while other children had access to the sole keyboard.


David starting writing video games on a Commodore PET with his brother, Richard, in the bedroom of their home in Vancouver, Canada when David was just 11 years old. This continued when the brothers moved to Crewkerne, Somerset to live with their grandparents. They then duplicated these games themselves and sold them via small advertisements in magazines such as Popular Computing Weekly. Soon they were earning more money than their father, who returned to England to manage the burgeoning business.

In 1982, when David was 16, they formed the company Galactic Software and supplied a succession of games to be published by Mastertronic, including The Last V8 (published under their MAD brand), one of several titles written by David.


Codemasters was formed in 1986 by David with his brother Richard and his father Jim to publish their games themselves. Initially it was housed in an industrial unit in Banbury, Oxfordshire, then moved to offices converted from the stables, barns and other outbuildings at Lower Farm House, outside Southam, Warwickshire.


Initially Codemasters concentrated on what were known as "budget" games at the £1.99 then £2.99 pricepoint for 8 bit home computers such as the Sinclair Spectrum and Commodore 64. With titles such as BMX Simulator, Rock Star Ate My Hamster and Pro Skateboard Simulator. Codemasters developed a reputation for innovation with features such as simultaneous four player gaming. They also had major success with the Dizzy series of games developed by the Oliver Twins, who later went on to found Blitz Games Studios. Within the first year of trading Codemasters was the best selling game publisher in Britain with in excess of 27% of the total market according to the Gallup charts.



Codemasters established themselves in the growing ZX Spectrum market, mostly with action games that required the player to solve simple puzzles by combining different objects, such as the Dizzy series. While rooted in the ZX Spectrum, Codemasters did not write exclusively for this computer. They also released software (including the Dizzy series) for the Commodore 64, Commodore 16, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit, Commodore Amiga and Atari ST.

They were famous for releasing a long series of "Simulator" games, mostly sports simulations (such as BMX Simulator, Grand_Prix_Simulator and Pro Boxing Simulator). This led to the parody "Advanced Lawnmower Simulator" being developed, praised to the skies and then published by Your Sinclair magazine as an April Fool's Day stunt.

Codemasters were one of a number of software houses in the 1980s that only released low retail price titles. However, in 1992 they began to cut down on the budget releases in favour of full-price titles.

As the 8-bit computer market diminished, Codemasters turned to developing for the 8-bit and 16-bit console markets, as well as moving away from their budget title legacy to more full-price games on the 16-bit computers — 1993 saw the last title in the budget Dizzy series, Crystal Kingdom Dizzy, although they released a full-price Dizzy game, Fantastic Dizzy later. They had major success with the Micro Machines series and Pete Sampras Tennis on the Sega Mega Drive. Both franchises featured the J-Cart, allowing two extra controllers to be attached to the game cart without requiring Electronic Arts' 4 way play or SEGA's four player adaptor.

Codemasters is notable for making the large majority of games published by Camerica,[NO SUCH RELEASE] which bypassed Nintendo's lock-out chip by glitching it and produced unlicensed NES games. These NES games were known for being shiny gold and silver cartridges that were slightly different from normal NES cartridges in shape, though they still fit into the cartridge slot. Many Codemasters titles were also featured on Camerica's Aladdin Deck Enhancer.

In 1990, Codemasters developed a device called the Power Pak, later renamed the Game Genie. It was a cheat cartridge for the NES, released in the US by Galoob and in Canada and the UK by Camerica. In an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit, Nintendo sued Galoob in the case Galoob v. Nintendo, claiming that the Game Genie created derivative works in violation of copyright law.



In an effort to establish themselves in the United States, they announced that they would launch a new development studio in Oakhurst, using the abandoned Sierra facilities and hiring much of Yosemite Entertainment's laid off staff in mid-September 1999.

Between 1998 and 2003, Codemasters dominated one area of game console entertainment when they teamed up with Jester Interactive Limited to publish their range of music creation software, for PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PC, namely MUSICtm, Music 2000, MTV Music Generator and MTV Music Generator 2. In 2003 this partnership was dissolved, with Jester releasing their own Music 3000 product. Codemasters released their final music based product called MTV Music Generator 3 in 2004.

In 2000 David won the UK National Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Codemasters have since continued to release titles for later generation systems, such as the TOCA Touring Car series, Colin McRae Rally series, Brian Lara Cricket series and Operation Flashpoint. They currently own the rights to use the title Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, but have parted with the original developer Bohemia Interactive Studio. In spite of this, Codemasters released Operation Flashpoint: Elite, developed by Bohemia, for Xbox in October 2005. The year 2005 also saw the appointment of Rod Cousens, formerly of Acclaim, as Managing Director.

In April 2007, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group entered into a game distribution agreement with Codemasters to distribute the company's titles in North America ending May 2008. Also in April, Codemasters launched the massively multiplayer online role-playing game, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar in Europe on behalf of Turbine. In June, Codemasters were purchased by equity group Balderton Capital and they changed their logo to an interlocked metallic C and M. Later that month they released the latest in the Colin McRae Rally series, Colin McRae: Dirt. They also published Overlord and Clive Barker's Jericho. Following the death of Colin McRae on 15 September 2007, Codemasters released a public statement expressing their sorrow and support for the family.

David sold out his interests in Codemasters in 2007.

In March 2008, Codemasters announced a new deal with Majesco. The new partnership will focus on titles for DS and Wii, including Nanostray 2, Toy Shop, Cake Mania 2 and Nancy Drew: The Mystery of the Clue Bender Society for DS, and Wild Earth: African Safari, Our House and Cake Mania for Wii. In May, it was announced that Codemasters had won the rights to the Formula One license after Sony's deal ran out. Codemasters released their first Formula One game, F1 2009, on the Wii and PlayStation Portable in Autumn 2009, and another similar game, F1 2010, on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in 2010. The game is based on the Dirt 2 engine.

On 8 April 2008, Sega announced the closure of Sega Racing Studio, although no reason was specified for the closure it has been assumed it was due to lackluster sales of Sega Rally Revo. At a later time Sega announced none of the employees were folded into internal studios. On 25 April 2008, Codemasters bought Sega Racing Studio. The studio was headed by Guy Wilday, who was involved in the Colin McRae Rally games and was formerly the head of the studio behind the games and the series producer. Notable also in 2008 was the Darlings' recognition in the Queen's Birthday Honours, as both were appointed Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the computer games industry.

On 5 April 2010, Reliance Big Entertainment, an Indian company acquired a 50% stake in the company. Later in 2010, Codemasters launched the free-to-play version of Lord of the Rings Online. While originally scheduled for 10 September, it was delayed due to contractual reasons and launched on 2 November. In May 2011, Codemasters transferred control of the European Lord of the Rings Online to Turbine, Inc.. On 3 June 2011, the Codemasters.com website was breached. It is believed that the attacker was able to gain access to the personal information of registered users with Codemasters accounts. Codemasters notified its users about the attack via email on 10 June 2011, after which their websites were pulled down and users redirected to their Facebook page.

In mid-2012, it was announced that Codemasters' racing games, whether about to be produced or developed, would begin to be branded under the 'Codemasters Racing' label. Dirt: Showdown and F1 2012 were the first racing titles to receive the new label name.

On 9 June 2013, Reliance Big Entertainment has increased its stake in Codemasters from 50% to 60.41%, making Reliance the majority owner.


In April 2015 Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens left to join Jagex leaving Frank Sagnier as the new Temporary CEO. Frank Sangier was the COO prior to Rod Cousens leaving.


Studios

Codemasters Southam, the primary studio and company headquarters.
Codemasters Birmingham, acquired from Swordfish Studios in November 2008. Developers of F1 2010, F1 2011, F1 2012, F1 Race Stars , F1 2013 and F1 2014. Located in Tricorn House, Edgbaston.
Codemasters Studio Sdn Bhd in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, founded September 2006. A partnership between Codemasters UK and Malaysia's Vision New Media Sdn Bhd. The first game this studio contributed to was Race Driver Grid.


Official website