please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message the codemasters software company limited the current logo used since 31 may 2007 formerly called electric games company limited 1986 1986 type subsidiary of reliance entertainment industry video game industry founded 6 august 1986 ; 30 years ago 1986 08 06 headquarters southam warwickshire england key people richard darling david darling jim darling anil ambani products dizzy micro machines brian lara cricket toca grid colin mcrae rally dirt lma manager operation flashpoint overlord f1 series ego game engine revenue 104.9 million 2008 number of employees 500 1 parent reliance entertainment 60.41 % divisions codemasters southam codemasters birmingham codemasters studio sdn bhd website official website the codemasters software company limited formerly electric games company limited doing business as codemasters 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 british game studios and in 2005 was named the top independent games developer by develop magazine . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 8 bit days 1.2 16 bit days 1.3 32 bit days 1.4 present day 2 studios 3 games 4 awards 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit 8 bit days edit company logo 1986 to 1991 established on 6 august 1986 by richard darling and david darling who worked previously for mastertronic 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. the company originally incorporated as electric games company limited on 6 august 1986 but reincorporated as the codemasters software company limited on 18 september 2016 . 3 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 . citation needed 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 . citation needed the company developed a reputation for creating highly positive fictitious reviews which were then included as quotes on the back cover of each game . 4 16 bit days edit 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 citation needed 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 . 5 company logo 1991 to 2007 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 . 32 bit days edit 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 . 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 when 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 . 6 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 7 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 . 8 in march 2008 codemasters announced a new partnership with majesco which 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 . 9 in may it was announced that codemasters had won the rights to the formula one licence after sony s deal ran out . the first resulting game f1 2009 was released on the wii and playstation portable in autumn 2009 10 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 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 . 11 on 25 april 2008 codemasters bought sega racing studio . 12 the studio was headed by guy wilday who was involved in the colin mcrae rally games 13 and was formerly the series producer . 14 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 . 15 present day edit on 5 april 2010 reliance big entertainment an indian company acquired a 50 % stake in the company . 16 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 . 17 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 . 18 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 . the label was discontinued in 2016 as codemasters latest racing games dirt rally and f1 2016 are branded with the regular codemasters logo . on 9 june 2013 reliance entertainment has increased its stake in codemasters from 50 % to 60.41 % making it the majority owner . 19 in april 2015 codemasters ceo rod cousens left to join jagex leaving coo frank sagnier as the new temporary ceo . 20 in april 2016 codemasters announced that they had hired most of the staff after sony closed evolution studios . 21 studios edit codemasters southam the primary studio and company headquarters . codemasters birmingham acquired from swordfish studios in november 2008 . 22 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 . evolution studios transferred from sony interactive entertainment in april 2016 . games edit main article list of codemasters video games awards edit british academy video games awards 2011 best sports game f1 2010 grand prix award develop industry excellence awards 2009 bafta 2009 sports for race driver grid uk developer of the year 25th golden joystick awards . uk development team mcv industry excellence awards 2008 . best technology ego engine tiga awards . see also edit supersonic software references edit about us codemasters . codemasters . retrieved 17 september 2015 . codemasters on top of the world as top 100 games developers league is revealed games industry biz 6 may 2005 codemasters software company limited the overview free company information from companies house . your sinclair issue 41 dennis publishing may 1989 page 50 https wos.meulie.net pub sinclair magazines yoursinclair issue41 pages yoursinclair4100050.jpg 964 f. 2d 965 lewis galoob toys inc. v. nintendo of america inc. . law.justia.com . retrieved 7 august 2011 . fahey mike . warner bros. to distribute codemasters games . kotaku . press release balderton capital buys out founders of codemasters company receives 50m funding from goldman sachs . gamesindustry.biz . 14 june 2007 . codemasters release statement regarding colin mcrae s death . strategyinformer.com . retrieved 26 august 2013 . codemasters unveils majesco partnership mcv 6 march 2008 codemasters home codemasters . sega racing studio closed news . www.developmag.com . retrieved 26 august 2013 . ryan geddes . codemasters buys sega racing studio . ign . guy wilday . mobygames . retrieved 26 august 2013 . published gestalt 29 july 2002 . guy wilday of codemasters interview eurogamer . eurogamer.net . retrieved 26 august 2013 . central chancery of the orders of knighthood pdf . bbc news . hinkle david 5 april 2010 . reliance big entertainment acquires 50 % stake in