Codemasters (earlier known as
Code Masters and often nicknamed
Codies in magazines) is one of the longest running
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
video game developerA video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Sony's PlayStation 3, PSP, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii, Nintendo DS, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Some...
s. The CEO is Rod Cousens, formerly of
AcclaimAcclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
. In 2005, Codemasters was named as the top independent games developer by
Develop Magazine, an international monthly journal for video game developers.
The co-founders, Richard and David Darling, were both appointed Commanders of the
Order of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) in the
Queen's Birthday Honours 2008The Birthday Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced in June 2008, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2008.The recipients of honours are displayed or referred to here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged firstly by the country whose ministers advised the Queen...
for services to the computer games industry.
Founded in 1986 by Richard and David Darling (who worked previously for
MastertronicMastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. At its peak the label was the dominant software publisher in the UK, a position achieved by selling cassette-based software at the £1.99 and £2.99 price-points...
), Codemasters quickly established themselves in the growing
ZX SpectrumThe ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. Referred to during development as the ZX81 Colour and ZX82, the machine was launched as the ZX Spectrum by Sinclair to highlight the machine's colour display, compared with the...
market, mostly with action games that required the player to solve simple puzzles by combining different objects.
Codemasters (earlier known as
Code Masters and often nicknamed
Codies in magazines) is one of the longest running
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
video game developerA video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Sony's PlayStation 3, PSP, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii, Nintendo DS, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Some...
s. The CEO is Rod Cousens, formerly of
AcclaimAcclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
. In 2005, Codemasters was named as the top independent games developer by
Develop Magazine, an international monthly journal for video game developers.
The co-founders, Richard and David Darling, were both appointed Commanders of the
Order of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) in the
Queen's Birthday Honours 2008The Birthday Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced in June 2008, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2008.The recipients of honours are displayed or referred to here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged firstly by the country whose ministers advised the Queen...
for services to the computer games industry.
History
Founded in 1986 by Richard and David Darling (who worked previously for
MastertronicMastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. At its peak the label was the dominant software publisher in the UK, a position achieved by selling cassette-based software at the £1.99 and £2.99 price-points...
), Codemasters quickly established themselves in the growing
ZX SpectrumThe ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. Referred to during development as the ZX81 Colour and ZX82, the machine was launched as the ZX Spectrum by Sinclair to highlight the machine's colour display, compared with the...
market, mostly with action games that required the player to solve simple puzzles by combining different objects. Among the best examples of these games are the
Dizzy seriesThe Dizzy series of computer games, published by Codemasters, was one of the most successful European computer game brands of the late 1980s. The games were based around a central figure: an intelligent egg-like creature called Dizzy...
. While Codemasters found their roots in the ZX Spectrum, they did not exclusively write for this one computer - they also released software (including the Dizzy series) for the
Enterprise 128The Enterprise is a Zilog Z80 based home computerfirst released in 1985.There are two variants, theEnterprise 64 with 64 kB of RAM, and theEnterprise 128 with 128 kB.The machine was also known by the names DPC, Samurai,...
, Vic 20,
Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January, 1982. Volume production started sometime in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$ 595...
,
Commodore 16The Commodore 16 was a home computer made by Commodore with a 6502-compatible 8501 CPU, released in 1984. It was intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20 and it often sold for 99 USD...
,
BBC MicroThe BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
,
Acorn ElectronThe Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. It has 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC along with its operating system....
,
Amstrad CPCThe Amstrad CPC is a series of 8 bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-'80s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself, especially in the UK and the rest of...
, Atari 8-bit, Commodore Amiga and
Atari STThe Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s. It was released by Atari Corporation in 1985...
.
They were famous for releasing a long series of "Simulator" games, mostly sports simulations. This led to the parody "Advanced Lawnmower Simulator" being developed, praised to the skies and then published by
Your SinclairYour Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...
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 priceThe suggested retail price , list price or recommended retail price of a product is the price the manufacturer recommends that the retailer sell it for. The intention was to help to standardize prices among locations...
titles. Hence, when in 1992, they began to cut down on the budget releases in favour of full-price titles, they attracted the ire of many fans and the gaming press, the latter questioning the commercial logic behind it as Codemasters had known a great deal of success from their budget titles.
As the
8-bitEight-bit CPUs normally use an 8-bit data bus and a 16-bit address bus which means that their address space is limited to 64 KB. This is not a "natural law", however, so there are exceptions....
computer market diminished, Codemasters turned to developing for the 8-bit and
16-bit-16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor.Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816...
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 seriesThe Dizzy series of computer games, published by Codemasters, was one of the most successful European computer game brands of the late 1980s. The games were based around a central figure: an intelligent egg-like creature called Dizzy...
,
Crystal Kingdom DizzyCrystal Kingdom Dizzy is an adventure video game featuring the character Dizzy released in December 1992 by Codemasters. The series was originally developed by the Oliver twins who had little involvement with this title....
, although they released a full-price
Dizzy game,
Fantastic DizzyFantastic Dizzy is a 1991 video game developed by Codemasters. It was published to several platforms, including Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, NES, Amiga and DOS.The game was originally intended to be released in time for Christmas in 1990, but because of a legal action between...
later. They had major success with the
Micro MachinesMicro Machines is a series of computer and video games featuring toy cars, developed by Codemasters and published on several platforms between 1991 and 2006...
series and
Pete Sampras TennisPete Sampras Tennis was the first game of three of this celebrity-endorsed tennis video game series, released by British software house Codemasters...
on the
Segais a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
Mega Drive. Both franchises featured the
J-CartThe J-Cart was a special cartridge developed by Codemasters for the Sega Mega Drive console. It held not only the game data but also came with two additional gamepad ports. This effectively allowed four players to play simultaneously without any adapters or workarounds...
, allowing two extra controllers to be attached to the game cart without requiring
Electronic ArtsElectronic Arts is an international developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible...
'
4 way play or
SEGAis a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
's four player adaptor.
The company attracted positive and negative criticism from the gaming press and the gaming public in the 1980s with quotes that appeared to come from the gaming press on the packaging of their games (e.g. "This game is absolutely brilliant!" on
Fruit Machine Simulator) — a standard feature of game packaging. However, on closer inspection, the quote could be seen to be attributed to none other than David or Richard Darling, the founders of Codemasters.
In the early 1990s, the studio was the focus of an episode of
It's a Living, a regional
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
programme that examined unusual careers and companies. The show was able to examine the inner workings of the offices and was primarily concentrated on the development of
Cosmic SpaceheadCosmic Spacehead is a video game released in 1993 in video games. It was developed and published by Codemasters for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear, Master System, NES, Amiga and PC, featuring adventure game elements, with locations connected by platform sections.The game is the sequel to...
, plus the marketing efforts surrounding it.
Console modifications
Codemasters is notable for making the large majority of games published by the controversial
CamericaCamerica is a video game company that was notable for producing unlicensed Nintendo Entertainment System games and hardware. It was founded in 1988 and published games through 1992. It created a number of peripherals for the NES, including the Aladdin Deck Enhancer...
company, which bypassed
Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel...
's
lock-out chipIn a general sense, a lockout chip is a chip within an electronic device to prevent other manufacturers from using a company's device to perform certain functions....
by
glitchA glitch is a short-lived fault in a system. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, and in circuit bending, as well as among players of video games, although it is applied to all types of systems including human organizations and nature...
ing it and produced unlicensed
NESThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in . In most of Asia, including Japan , China, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines, it was released as the , commonly abbreviated as the...
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 EnhancerThe Aladdin Deck Enhancer, produced by Camerica, and developed by Codemasters, is a cartridge based system that allows software on Compact Cartridges to be played on the Nintendo Entertainment System, it is similar to the Datach system for the Famicom but without the Barcode...
.
In 1990 Codemasters developed a device called the
Power Pak, later renamed the
Game GenieThe Game Genie is a series of cheat systems designed by Codemasters and sold by Camerica and Galoob for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Mega Drive/Genesis, and Sega Game Gear that modifies game data, allowing the player to cheat, manipulate various...
. It was a cheat cartridge for the NES, released in the US by
GaloobGaloob was a toy company best known for creating the video game cheat device called the Game Genie. The South San Francisco-based company was founded by Barbara Frankel and Lewis Galoob in 1954 as an import business...
and in
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
by Camerica.
Recent history
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
SierraSierra Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams. Based in Los Angeles, California, the company was last owned by a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard...
facilities and hiring much of the Yosemite Entertainment's laid off staff in mid-September 1999.
Codemasters have since continued to release titles for later generation systems, such as the
TOCA Touring Car seriesTOCA is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters, initially focusing specifically on Touring car racing but more recently expanding to cover a wide variety of motorsport...
,
Colin McRae RallyColin McRae Rally is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters.Started in 1998, the franchise has been a critical and commercial success and is generally acknowledged as a pioneer of realistic rally sports racing games. However, the car handling in the most recent games is...
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 StudioBohemia Interactive Studio is an independent computer and console game developer based in Prague, the Czech Republic. BIS currently employs over 30 game developers in their Prague based research and development studio...
. In spite of this, Codemasters released
Operation Flashpoint: Elite, developed by Bohemia, for
XboxThe Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
in October 2005. June 2006 saw the long awaited release of
Sensible Soccer 2006.
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.
In June 2007 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 RallyColin McRae Rally is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters.Started in 1998, the franchise has been a critical and commercial success and is generally acknowledged as a pioneer of realistic rally sports racing games. However, the car handling in the most recent games is...
series,
DiRTColin McRae: DiRT is the sixth racing game in the Colin McRae Rally series, developed by Codemasters, and the last of the series to be published before Colin McRae's death. It features new graphics, audio, physics engine, new vehicles and a new game engine which was co-developed between...
. They have recently published
OverlordOverlord is a third-person action-adventure game developed by Triumph Studios and published by Codemasters for the Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and Playstation 3...
and
Clive Barker's JerichoClive Barker’s Jericho is a supernatural horror-themed first person shooter video game with author Clive Barker providing the premise of the storyline. The game was released for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 and available on GameTap on October 23, 2007. It can also be downloaded via Steam.A demo...
.
Following the death of
Colin McRaeColin Steele McRae, MBE was a Scottish rally driver born in Lanark.The son of five-time British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae and brother of rally driver Alister McRae, Colin McRae was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion and, in 1995, became the first Briton and the youngest to win the World...
on September 15, 2007, Codemasters released a public statement expressing their sorrow and support for the family.
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.
On May 9, 2008, it was announced that Codemasters had won the rights to the
Formula OneFormula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1, and currently officially referred to as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants...
license after
Sonyis a video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a full subsidiary of Sony. The company was established on November 16, 1987 in Tokyo, Japan prior to the launch of the original PlayStation video game system...
's deal ran out. Codemasters will release their first Formula One game,
F1 2009, on the
WiiThe is a home video game console released by Nintendo. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of both...
and
PlayStation PortableThe PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
sometime in Autumn 2009, and another similar game,
F1 2010F1 2010 is an upcoming video game based on the motor racing series with the same name and the 2010 Formula One season. It is the sequel to the 2009 video game based on the same series. It will be released in 2010 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows platforms. The game was confirmed...
, on the
PCPC most commonly refers to:* Personal computer, a computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals* Political correctness, language or behavior that appears calculated to provide a minimum of offense...
,
PlayStation 3The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series...
, and
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
in 2010. The game will be based on the DiRT 2 engine.
On April 8, 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 RevoSega Rally Revo is an offroad racing video game, the 4th installment of the Sega Rally series. The game is available on Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP from 28 September 2007 in Europe. The game's title is "REVO" as Sega intends it to be a revolution in rally racing games...
. At a later time Sega announced none of the employees were folded into internal studios.
On April 25, 2008, Codemasters bought Sega Racing Studio .
The studio was headed by Guy Wilday, who was involved in the
Colin McRae RallyColin McRae Rally is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters.Started in 1998, the franchise has been a critical and commercial success and is generally acknowledged as a pioneer of realistic rally sports racing games. However, the car handling in the most recent games is...
games and was formerly the head of the studio behind the games and the series producer.
Studios
- Codemasters United States in Oakhurst, CA, founded as Yosemite Entertainment in 1998, acquired in 1999.
- Swordfish Studios
Swordfish Studios is a Birmingham, based software development company founded by Rage executive director Trevor Williams and Joan Finnegan in September 2002....
in Birmingham, UK, founded September 2002, acquired from Activision BlizzardActivision Blizzard, Inc. is the American holding company for Activision and Blizzard Entertainment, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. The company is the result of a merger between Activision and Vivendi Games, announced on December 2, 2007 in a deal worth USD$18.8 billion. The...
on November 14, 2008.
Partners
Supersonic Software Ltd. is a UK based independent games developer established in 1989. Supersonic Software comprised of programmer Peter Williamson, graphics artist Neil Adamson, Chris Graham, Lyndon Sharp and David Whittaker. Their games included
BMX Freestyle (1989),
Moto Cross Simulator (1989),
Street Gang Football (1989),
Super Car Trans Am (1989) and
Italian Supercar (1990).
External links