Take-Two gives up its attempted acquisition of Codemasters

Two months after reportedly reaching an agreement to acquire Codemasters for almost $1 billion, Take-Two Interactive this week announced it no longer plans to follow-through with its bid.

Take-Two looked set to follow through with its acquisition last November, though it seems plans were complicated by EA's surprise bid of $1.2 billion the following month. The Codemasters board took to this bid, withdrawing its recommendation to sell to Take-Two. Now, rather than returning with a counter-offer, the publisher told its investors that it's pulling out of the race entirely.

With all that said, it seems likely EA will end up getting its hands on Codemasters after all. An acquisition would give EA the rights to an impressive garage of racing sims—the F1, Dirt and GRID series' sitting nicely next to Criterion's Need For Speed under the publisher's umbrella. But it'd also give EA access to things like hardcore military sim Operation Flashpoint, the precursor to Bohemia Interactive's ARMA games.

Take-Two's statement claims the publisher is still actively hunting for developers to buy up. But as far as Codemasters is concerned, it seems Take-Two just couldn't make it over the finish line.