How’s this for reverse imperialism?
India’s Reliance Big Entertainment has agreed to acquire a 50 percent share of British game publisher Codemasters, the maker of hit games such as Dirt 2. Codemasters’ annual revenues are in excess of $150 million, but the company hasn’t disclosed its profit status.
Reliance Big Entertainment, which is part of Reliance ADA Group, is investing alongside existing investor Balderton Capital, the European venture capital firm that invested in Codemasters starting in 2005. Reliance Big Entertainment’s Zapak Digital Entertainment, a publisher of casual and massively multiplayer online games, will oversee Codemasters. Besides Codemasters, Zapak also controls Jump Games, a global mobile game maker.
Rohit Sharma, chief executive of Zapak, said Codemasters’ strengths across technology, game development and game distribution will complement Zapak’s assets in mobile games. Codemasters makes racing titles including Formula 1, Dirt2, and Race Driver Grid. It also makes military simulations such as Operation Flashpoint 2. And it also makes cricket games such as The Ashes which are popular in India.