Indian firm buys half of Codemasters

By Robert Purchese Published 6 April, 2010

Has "immense resources", says pub.

British publisher Codemasters is planning to "leapfrog" into the big league after a 50 per cent acquisition by Indian giant Reliance Big Entertainment.

The deal will be overseen by games division Zapak Digital Entertainment and secure the future of Codemasters, which had looked wobbly.

"I think it leapfrogs us forward," Codemasters boss Rod Cousens told GamesIndustry.biz, "and where we've been this high-quality company in England, I think this really propels us on a global stage, and no one can doubt the financial resources behind this company now."

Cousens said Reliance has "immense resources", and that online portal Zapak and Jump Games have huge potential to spur online Codemasters growth. India, too, is a "high-growth" market, fanatical about cricket and soon perhaps formula 1 - two areas Codemasters is familiar with.

That's not to mention India's out-sourcing "potential", Cousens added, nor Reliance's funding-fingers that are dipped in the Dreamworks pie. "That's also something to consider," said Cousens, "and whether there are areas of collaboration.

"But sitting beneath all of that, ironically - and believe me, this was never the lead on the agenda - but titles like Dance Factory, as you look at Bollywood and the TV dance shows... If you then start to look at what we can do through Zapak - plus the Sensible titles we have, such as Cannon Fodder and Megalomania, for us it's just great," Cousens offered.

The Codemasters boss also talked of participation in the social games market and on iPhone and mobile.

Pop over to GamesIndustry.biz for the full Rod Cousens interview.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (60) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • mcmothercruncher #1 2 years ago

    "...and where we've been this high-quality company in England..."

    Operation Flashpoint franchise. Now kindly fuck off until you want to make decent games again.

  • metalangel #2 2 years ago

    Why can't this sort of miraculous windfall ever arrive to save a company that actually deserves it?

  • TheWretched #3 2 years ago

    Mega Lo Mania remake?? Count me in^^ Loved that game on my Amiga :D

  • rascoj64 #4 2 years ago

    I want a proper update to canonfooder!

  • George-Roper #5 2 years ago

    That's not to mention India's out-sourcing "potential", Cousens added

    Just...LOL!

    Because outsourcing has proven itself to be such a reliable, quality-focused way of getting work done. Bravo!

  • mr_pink #6 2 years ago

    "That's not to mention India's out-sourcing 'potential', Cousens added"

    However 'high quality' you think you were in the UK, you can kiss all that quality goodbye if you are seriously considering this as a business strategy.

  • dacicus #7 2 years ago

    That is wrong on so many levels....Some people might remember the disaster called Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods (game developed for Jowood by the indian company Trine Games ). If that's the "high quality" that add to already "high quality", thanks but I pass on any title that Codies will release from now on (let's face it some of the Codies racers were good and Overlord series were also good, but with an indian company involved, i expect Codemaster to go even further down in quality then Op Flaspoint 2 ).

  • TitusCrow #8 2 years ago

    "immense resources" *nods* that will be the 17 call centers and the seldom mentioned "earth mines" you've never heard of them? What do you get from an earth mine you say? why earth of course! :) These are so when any of the call center workers complains about inhuman conditions at the call center and their friend says "it could be worse" they mean it!

    Overseer - dig!

    Earthmine worker - but why>? Overseer - just dig!! Earthmine worker - But why? its just earth! Overseer - *nods* The reason you dig now, is because you ask why you dig. Dig!!!!

    *wow! tough crowd today :)*
    Edited by TitusCrow at 06/04/10 @ 13:03

  • actionfitz #9 2 years ago

    "That's not to mention India's out-sourcing "potential", Cousens added".

    oh for fuck sake.
    so that's the plan then? Indian firm buys Codies name and then farms all the fucking dev jobs abroad?
    nice.
    and it's taken this long to get any movement at all on UK games industry tax breaks...
    great.
    I wonder how much of the 'UK Games Industry' will be left by the time we have the same level of support that countries like Canada etc enjoy.

  • NGCes26294BIV #10 2 years ago

    @mcmothercruncher

    Dirt, Grid, F1 franchises. Now kindly fuck off until you want to make decent posts again.

  • jambo74 #11 2 years ago

    So long UK Codemasters workers. Mind you, those that worked on OFDR are no real loss to gaming.

  • jambo74 #12 2 years ago

    Codemasters boss replaced in 4 months...watch this space.

  • nichotshoter #13 2 years ago

    Did they just mention a bollywood game
    "who the fuck wants one of those"

  • mcmonkeyplc #14 2 years ago

    Ooooooo fuck! Bye bye Codemasters.

    /works for Reliance.

  • KillerMonkey #15 2 years ago

    @NGCes26294BIV
    "Dirt, Grid, F1 franchises."

    *shudder* I still have nightmares about cars that behave like hovercraft after playing GRID.

  • Murton #16 2 years ago

    "That's not to mention India's out-sourcing "potential", Cousens added"

    That's QA done then. Nice one Rod. I sure hope that this article is not how they first learn about this serious risk to their job security.

  • hollowroom #17 2 years ago

    @NGCes26294BIV
    "Dirt, Grid, F1 franchises."

    Never played Op Flash 2 did you?

    No matter how good you think their racing games are, Op Flash 2 puts them into negative territory.

  • Doctor_What #18 2 years ago

    At least it secures a few jobs. That's a good thing, surely? Did you lot get out of the grumpy side of bed today?

  • Shikasama #19 2 years ago

    TitusCrow, that was the funniest ever. Especially when you read it in an Indian accent

  • RodHull #20 2 years ago

    So that leaves the UK owned game publishers as Rebellion. May God have mercy on us all.

  • George-Roper #21 2 years ago

    At least it secures a few jobs. That's a good thing, surely? Did you lot get out of the grumpy side of bed today?

    You reckon?

    Lets see where things sit in a couple of months, shall we? QA will definitely be offloaded to India, as a first action. Not good for their jobs, is it?

    Edit: -1? Why? I'm not saying that QA deserve it, just that they are typically the dept that are found 'easiest' to push to outsourcing.
    Edited by George-Roper at 06/04/10 @ 10:51

  • NGCes26294BIV #22 2 years ago

    @hollowroom

    Yeah, it was SO bad it got a metacritic of 76/100 across all formats.

  • mcmonkeyplc #23 2 years ago

    Like I said, I work for a company that has become a subsidary of Reliance. We were a British company much like Codemasters, doing crap at the time due to serious flaws in our business.

    Anyway Reliance came along and basically gutted the company, moved alot of the work to India and now the UK office (once the world HQ) is now a shell of it's former self.

    Codemasters isn't in the same situation though so things MIGHT be different but if Reliance finds things wrong it will have no qualms about ripping the guts out of codemasters and then shoving it into a global brand.

    Say hello to Reliance Codemasters. :p

  • Mr_Bogus #24 2 years ago

    Oh well, it's a change from a UK games company being bought out by an American corp.

  • Stuz359 #25 2 years ago

    Wow, people really annoyed at the outsourcing potential? What's the problem? For stuff like art assets it makes sense for a dev team to farm out some of the work. Look at the Simpsons, most of it's animation work is done in Korea. I think some people need to get off their high horses about this.

  • hiddenranbir #26 2 years ago

    Did he just mention Cannon Fodder? For India? Lol random.

    You may whine about outsourcing to India but most of the top computer, programming and coding geeks are there tbh. Not to mention that they'll have a greater drive to work than you lazy first worlders who think you just naturally deserve work, rather than based on your skills! Free market, they'll go where the labour is best, but good news.


    I demand some Mahabharat or Ramayana title!

  • Murton #27 2 years ago

    "Wow, people really annoyed at the outsourcing potential? What's the problem? For stuff like art assets it makes sense for a dev team to farm out some of the work"

    Outsourcing things like art assets certainly does make sense, they eat up a lot of developer time that can be used for things like level design and the core programming, but most of the annoyance about outsourcing in this instance is with regards to the direct job losses that it will cause. The studio guys are safer than ever now, but the guys in QA and elsewhere are once again facing the possibility of substantial job cuts, which is something worth being annoyed about in my opinion.

  • aldo_14 #28 2 years ago


    You may whine about outsourcing to India but most of the top computer, programming and coding geeks are there tbh. Not to mention that they'll have a greater drive to work than you lazy first worlders who think you just naturally deserve work, rather than based on your skills! Free market, they'll go where the labour is best, but good news.

    Bollocks to that. I just had my job moved to India purely because it's cheaper. After this was announced, we were made to train the replacements (who had flown over at the companies own expense), who were sufficiently incompetent ('below graduate level', I was told) as to require an extension of their training period to almost double the length intended. These guys promptly returned to Bangalore and bombarded us with technical support questions that (literally) 5 minuts of google answered, before the outsourcing company decided to move the work to Chennai and thus over to an entirely new set of completely untrained people.

    Oh, and the best bit was when said company received test networking kit (no naming of my ex-employer, but it has a name derived from a certain Californian city famed for its big red bridge). They received this router - worth around quarter of a million squid (I forget the exact model, but IIRC it ranged from around $50,000 to $1,000,000), and what did they do? They stuck it out in the parking lot for a week during monsoon season, then slapped it unsecured on an open pick up trip to drive it cross-country.

    Even the old Boss Guy (I forget his name, but he was sufficiently minted that Ferrari would call him whenever they made a new car, just to see if he'd buy it. He also had a Tesla on order) admitted that Indian University graduates were only really trained at the sort of skills useful for outsourcing - i.e. maintenance - not improvisation or problem solving. But they were a fuckton cheaper to employ (oddly, the US worker is more expensive than the UK in these figures - but Indian/Chinese is something like a 5th or so).

    So the best geeks are not there, because the best workers in or from India are smart enough to move to the West where they are regarded by the major multinationals as more than just a cheap cost-cutting measure. Didn't you know that labour goes where it's cheapest, not where it's best?
    Edited by aldo_14 at 06/04/10 @ 11:51

  • metalangel #29 2 years ago

    Man, a lot of Codebastards apologists in here... They're trading off the reputation they made 15 years ago!

  • hiddenranbir #30 2 years ago

    Cheapest -is- best. You should have been willing to have your pay cut! :D

  • George-Roper #31 2 years ago

    Bollocks to that. I just had my job moved to India purely because it's cheaper. After this was announced, we were made to train the replacements (who had flown over at the companies own expense), who were sufficiently incompetent ('below graduate level', I was told) as to require an extension of their training period to almost double the length intended. These guys promptly returned to Bangalore and bombarded us with technical support questions that (literally) 5 minuts of google answered, before the outsourcing company decided to move the work to Chennai and thus over to an entirely new set of completely untrained people.

    Oh, and the best bit was when said company received test networking kit (no naming of my ex-employer, but it has a name derived from a certain Californian city famed for its big red bridge). They received this router - worth around quarter of a million squid (I forget the exact model, but IIRC it ranged from around $50,000 to $1,000,000), and what did they do? They stuck it out in the parking lot for a week during monsoon season, then slapped it unsecured on an open pick up trip to drive it cross-country.

    Well said and 100% accurate. I've also had my fair share of outsourced resources being replaced, seemingly at a whim after weeks of training. The worst I recall was having outsourced staff on my project being replaced three times in two weeks.

    Most sensible companies will not even open their source code to outsourced companies based in India, because of a serious lack of security that is prevalent over there.

    Any company that puts flat-out cost ahead of everything else, deserves all they get in return. I've seen so many UK companies 'restructure' their UK workforce into oblivion, shift everything over to India and then just 6 months later, sack off the Indian operation and bring everything back into the UK. Just a monumental waste of time and effort, not to mention the piss-poor results of using outsourced resourcing for those 6 months.

  • TeaFiend #32 2 years ago

    I work in a QA department. We have at times used outsourced work from India to bolster the numbers. It was not the best. Some of the bugs reported by them were not bugs, some of the faults they found could not be reproduced here and the level of writing was sub-par.

    Might be able to get more found due to price difference, but it is quality assurance and not quantity assurance.

  • chukcyQ #33 2 years ago

    April Fools!, suckers

  • JGreene #34 2 years ago

    Looking at this from a bigger perspective, I can understand the cynicism and concern us Brits have about large Indian companies gradually and systematically taking over British institutions. It is ironic though, how upset we get when we think Indians are benefiting from our loss, when for the last 400 years we've been milking India and other colonies for everything they've got and leaving them in a state of poverty we can't even begin to imagine. How do you think our country got so damn rich and had the ability to build infrastructure that we take for granted such as roads, sewers, electricity grids. Any of you who visit the real India outside of the glamorized Bollywood will see things you may not see in your nightmares. Our legacy in India is a terrible one, with the repercussions of our exploitative divide and rule policies still being felt to this day.

    A lot of us are living in a strange a-historic idealised image of what Britain and Britishness are. And it's these twisted perspectives that groups like the BNP (and its less extreme relatives such as the UKIP) like to exploit when calling for a return to britishness.

    I'm not fan of extremist faceless capitalism, a modus operandi that Indian corporations have adopted wholesale in their attemps at economic growth and progression. However, neither am I a fan of hippocracy, and lack of historical perspective.

    As they say, what goes around comes around. Or as Malcolm X put it, this is a case of Chickens Coming Home to Roost.

  • Murton #35 2 years ago

    @TeaFiend

    Gotta love those outsourced guys, I've worked in QA too and I remember getting involved in a bit of argument regarding how they handled resolve testing on quite a few of my bugs. I especially liked the way that as soon as a dev pointed out that they hadn't tested properly they simply confirmed the resolve rather than attempting to test it correctly. Great Quality Assurance right there.

    The very idea that those that survived last years axe due to there not being enough work to sustain the department might now come to lose their jobs to outsourcing is thoroughly disappointing.
    Edited by Murton at 06/04/10 @ 12:34

  • George-Roper #36 2 years ago

    A lot of us are living in a strange a-historic idealised image of what Britain and Britishness are. And it's these twisted perspectives that groups like the BNP (and its less extreme relatives such as the UKIP) like to exploit when calling for a return to britishness.

    Fuck you. Don't try to infer that my thoughts on outsourcing in India has anything to do with race.

    In my direct experience, Indian outsourcing has been very poor quality. That's all there is to it. Unreliable. Sometimes unintelligible communication. Constantly rotating workforce. Unsecured working environments. The list goes on and on and nothing about it is because they're Indian. It's because they run like fucking sweatshops, so the staff employed are simply not at the right level.

    My last company binned the Indian team, after 3 months of using them. On a conference call, one day later they offered to reduce their already low costs by another 60% if we'd stay with them. The reason why we were getting rid is already stated in the above paragraph, so no amount of lowering the costs would change the core fact that using them was resulting in poor results.
    Edited by George-Roper at 06/04/10 @ 12:43

  • hiddenranbir #37 2 years ago

    Not sounding very skilfull. This country does have a real shortage of mathematicians, engineers etc. The skilliest of the skills. A lot of our projects in renewable energy systems are having to look abroad, cause there isn't much left reason for anything to be kept here, tbh. Desperately trying to hold on to whatever research students possible and taking on partnerships with outside universities because they just have more of what we need. Except nationalist pride.


    Anyway, back on topic: Codemasters get a splurge of money and access to a new growing market of gamers.
    Edited by hiddenranbir at 06/04/10 @ 12:46

  • aldo_14 #38 2 years ago


    A lot of us are living in a strange a-historic idealised image of what Britain and Britishness are. And it's these twisted perspectives that groups like the BNP (and its less extreme relatives such as the UKIP) like to exploit when calling for a return to britishness.

    I'm not fan of extremist faceless capitalism, a modus operandi that Indian corporations have adopted wholesale in their attemps at economic growth and progression. However, neither am I a fan of hippocracy, and lack of historical perspective.


    I'm not sure where the hypocracy lies, actually.

    Outsourcing is pretty much a modernized form of milking developing economies, whether in India, China, or elsewhere. It's unpleasant in several ways; firstly it re-enforces the notion of a workforce as disposable least cost assets, and secondly it encourages these developing countries to develop an educational and economic system effectively based on patronage of western-based multinationals. Patronage that solely depends on that country being economically weak enough for wages to be very low.

    No-one has criticised the concept of an Indian company buying up a British one; they've criticised the concept of it buying one up and then - potentially - sacking staff here in order to bring in cheaper ones. And I dare anyone to say it's wrong to be pissed off with the concept of losing your job in order for someone else to take over not because they are better, or more efficient, or smarter, but simply and solely because they can be hired for much cheaper.

    Plus, y'know, what has this got to do with UKIP or BNP or any of that tosh? This has nothing to do with Britishness, unless its some quaint british tradition I'm not aware to have the notion of keeping your job on the basis of merit.
    Edited by aldo_14 at 06/04/10 @ 13:43

  • Murton #39 2 years ago

    "A lot of our projects in renewable energy systems are having to look abroad, cause there isn't much left reason for anything to be kept here, tbh"

    Ill-informed rubbish. There's a research company operating in Scotland that is at the forefront of low-cost off-shore tidal energy research. We're also pretty high up in the tables when it comes to wind power research too, it's only when we come to manufacture these systems that we look abroad, forsaking our once proud, now dead steelworking industry in favour of the cheap labour of Eastern Europe.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #40 2 years ago

    If things do get worse for Codemasters, I'm sure we'll all be watching closely. Its never a good time to lose jobs, but lets hope those who may watch the purse strings, don't get itchy fingers and make bad moves. No offense to indian workers, but it would be hugely overstepping the mark to think that, what going to go one with games, is as simple as, outsourcing for banks (still awful) etc. Sure, they work hard and may be cheaper, but they are not at first world standard.

    While Flashpoint might have been a bit 'meh', I thoroughly enjoyed Grid and Dirt. I pray to god these poor quality indian staff don't wreck Grid 2 before it gets out of the door.

    How will this effect their games output? Who knows.

  • Ranger101 #41 2 years ago

    Outsource the creation of the software tools, sure, but nothing customer facing. The details will be lost in translation.

    hiddenranbir is probably a student or something - someone who hasn't dealt with real-world outsourcing. Or Mergers and Aquisitions. We have a 70% to 30% split in our coding team in geographical distribution, 70% being in India. Our 30% is more efficient and produces the higher quality work and 100% of the innovation. It's like that accross any company with outsourcing, which is why most businesses recommend that exact opposite of what we have. Shame our company hasn't caught on yet.

  • metalangel #42 2 years ago

    So there we go. When the next batch of their games suck even harder than the current lot, it's all down to what the British Empire did three centuries ago.

  • pantherboy #43 2 years ago

    I for one would welcome this sort of investment in my company, people are jumping to conclusions of a takeover and shipping jobs away misunderstanding what an investment actually means.

    Do a bit of research and you will see that Reliance is one of the most successfull companies in the world, its a company that deals in the hundreds of billions, with that sought of track record I trust they know how make good INVESTMENTS and have potentially saved british jobs.

  • George-Roper #44 2 years ago

    I for one would welcome this sort of investment in my company, people are jumping to conclusions of a takeover and shipping jobs away misunderstanding what an investment actually means.

    Do a bit of research and you will see that Reliance is one of the most successfull companies in the world, its a company that deals in the hundreds of billions, with that sought of track record I trust they know how make good INVESTMENTS and have potentially saved british jobs.

    They own half of Codemasters. That's a little bit more than an 'investment'.

    Also, companies 'invest' to make money. How do you make money? You cut costs. How do you cut costs? You farm the work out to cheap, outsourced locations. Like India. Where this company is based.

    Don't forget, these comments aren't full of outsourcing discussion out of nowhere. It was clearly stated from within the article, as a 'positive' thing. Well, no it's not. Not for UK employees.

  • hiddenranbir #45 2 years ago

    There's a research company operating in Scotland that is at the forefront of low-cost off-shore tidal energy research. We're also pretty high up in the tables when it comes to wind power research too

    Be worth checking who they work with! Who are they? A lot of projects are international. Universities are partnering a lot now.

    There is a real shortage of skills in this country, can't deny that.
    Edited by hiddenranbir at 06/04/10 @ 16:46

  • aldo_14 #46 2 years ago


    Do a bit of research and you will see that Reliance is one of the most successfull companies in the world, its a company that deals in the hundreds of billions, with that sought of track record I trust they know how make good INVESTMENTS and have potentially saved british jobs.

    Potentially, yes. And potentially no.

    Looking at Reliance it appears that the majority, if not all, of their work is done in India (whether providing outsourcing to other companies, or others parts of the businesses operation). I've not found anything to indicate that they invest externally, and the direct mention of outsourcing implies that at best any extra work will be outsourced to India or other 'cheap' nations.

    Plus, frankly, doing deals in billions of pounds means bugger all. I'm pretty sure even the most rapacious bastards of companies do deals in the billions, and a good investment is one which makes the shareholders wealthier. Staff rights, quality of product, none of these count when there's money to be made.

    Point being, when the first press release accompanying a half-buyout by a company from India - a country reknowned for its cheap tech labour - mentions outsourcing it's pretty damn ominous for those employees based in the UK, Europe, or US.

  • pantherboy #47 2 years ago

    I'd prefer Reliance over Balderton a venture capitalist who had over 70% of the company before. Reliance seem like a company genuinely interested in this market and can open a big untapped market to Codemasters potentially.
    Not all investers look to pick up companies that they think are failing so they can storm in and change everything around - its too risky and too much work. Many smart investors (particularly the multi bilion earning ones that own many hundreds of companies - seriously look at what Reliance do, its pretty much everything) can pick up well run companies without interfering too much because they believe they can offer them something to make them grow and share in that success.
    I don't know which way Reliance will heading, we will have to wait and see, but I won't jump to conclusions.

  • orpheus #48 2 years ago

    Codemasters can all fuck off to India for all I care - they've been shite for years and their latest offerings have been even worse. Mentioning OFP will result in instant negs from a thousand fucktards but it's still a sticking point for some people, and other recent offerings are equally poor. Half arsed development and loads of bullshit pre-release promises that are never upheld have already crippled their UK reputation. All this sale means is they'll move to developing games for an Indian market - no great loss to us.

    @ GeorgeRoper - well said. Anytime anyone criticises outsourcing someone jumps in with the race card. Doesn't matter what colour they are or where they live, outsourcing often precedes a huge drop in service levels. It doesn't make you racist to question it as a business practice.
    Edited by orpheus at 06/04/10 @ 17:43

  • Bluetooth #49 2 years ago

    @aldo_14

    No-one has criticised the concept of an Indian company buying up a British one; they've criticised the concept of it buying one up and then - potentially - sacking staff here in order to bring in cheaper ones. And I dare anyone to say it's wrong to be pissed off with the concept of losing your job in order for someone else to take over not because they are better, or more efficient, or smarter, but simply and solely because they can be hired for much cheaper.

    -------------

    Isn't that what all of us do whenever we buy something? Shop for the cheapest utility bills, fuel, clothes, toys, find the cheapest insurance quote online, cheapest handyman to fix your wall etc.

  • laharl80 #50 2 years ago

    I suspect a lot of british codemasters employees will be saying ?oh dearie me? in the near future.

  • George-Roper #51 2 years ago

    Isn't that what all of us do whenever we buy something? Shop for the cheapest utility bills, fuel, clothes, toys, find the cheapest insurance quote online, cheapest handyman to fix your wall etc.

    Of course but by and large, those things you've mentioned don't have anything else hanging on them. For example, I shop around for the cheapest shop for the game I want but that doesn't mean that the game I buy from that shop is any different than if I bought it from any other shop.

    If I did shop around for the cheapest service, such as installing a new kitchen you can be sure that I wouldn't give my cash to some cowboy who has a history of poor workmanship, who can't be relied on to give you proper updates and who constantly hires new staff who don't have the right training.

    No, whichever way you spin this it doesn't come out good. Outsourcing work is cheap but it results in shoddy work.

  • aldo_14 #52 2 years ago


    Isn't that what all of us do whenever we buy something? Shop for the cheapest utility bills, fuel, clothes, toys, find the cheapest insurance quote online, cheapest handyman to fix your wall etc.

    AFAIK most people would think it a tad.. well, not irrational but a bit shittish, to select a one-handed handyman whose hammer is missing a head, thus replacing your existing competent handyman purely because he (or she) is cheaper. Particularly when you are selecting that handyman not for yourself but for someone renting from you.

    Yes, you can stretch to some sort of equivalence with private shopping. But you can probably stretch Steven Gerard changing the tune at a pub to some sort of equivalence with the bombing of Dresden - it doesn't entail it's a fair or rational equivalence. If it did, you could quite possibly stretch a little more and justify replacing those outsource workers with even cheaper 8 year old orphans.

  • hiddenranbir #53 2 years ago

    So British jobs will be gone...the same British jobs that served Code-masters so well recently? Maybe if CM was kicking ass and now finding themselves with jobs going, sure maybe something could be said but what is seen is, a more successful company taking on the failings of a stumbling one. Long term prosperity desired.

  • metalangel #54 2 years ago

    @Bluetooth: Do I buy cheapest? Hell no.

    Do I drink Tesco Value Lager?
    Do I wear nothing but Primark clothes?
    Do I drive a Citroen?
    Do I fly Ryanair?
    Do I watch TV on a tiny black and white set with a coathanger for an antenna?
    Do I feast on Asda Scumprice cheese, bread and baked beans to survive in my one bedroom hovel, cooking them on a hotplate rather than a microwave?

    NO to all of the above. I buy nice things because I don't want to drink horse piss/have tatty clothes falling apart/have a car that disintegrates and is worth £4 in a year's time/fly worst class after paying to check in/enjoy what I'm watching/enjoy what I'm eating.

    By all means be frugal with your money but what the hell good is it doing you if it's all sitting in your bank account while you live in squalor? Buy yourself that nice sandwich from M&S. And the posh Czech lager. And a nice car. And some decent clothes to wear on your nice trip that you saw on a holiday show on your big HDTV.

  • hiddenranbir #55 2 years ago

    Some of the cheapest products that are bought, however, are because they are imports, manufactured from places like China and stuff. Like that HDTV, maybe.

  • Mickeman #56 2 years ago

    Awesome! Cannot wait for Dirt 3 where the US commentary and skate culture will be replaced with Indian commentary and Bollywood influenses!! Rumours suggest that one of the unlockable vechicles is a holy cow!!!

  • hollowroom #57 2 years ago

    I was going to contribute by telling a story about when I worked for Demon and what a disaster their outsourcing was, but then I remembered what cunts they were and wont bother.

    I will say this though: I voted with my feet and got the hell out of the UK altogether.

  • JensonJet #58 2 years ago

    Seriously WHO CARES? We've all been enjoying decades of electronics, clothes and food produced by low paid, foreign workers, now all of a sudden people are upset!?!? Rich countries have prospered from cheap labour for centuries. Western economy would fall if cheap labour didn't exist. British business owners and managers ultimately make the decision to sell to foreign owners, with some making a rather tidy profit from doing so. But forget about that, let's concentrate on how hard done by British workers are, or perhaps how some foreign workers aren't good enough. Seems a shame our value-for-money, perfect British workforce are finding themselves out of work. Britain once had many thriving industries... it seems to be our nature to give it all up once we've taken so far. Now we've found out just how far we're capable of taking the videogame industry. Is anyone really surprised?

  • gizmo #59 2 years ago

    Looking through this thread, I'm pretty sure that the new Indian investors have signed up dozens of their employees as EG users, paid by the click on the minus button each time the game... Dragon Rising... is mentioned!

    Watch...

    PS. Hope they mentioned Dragon Rising in their disclosure letter!

  • jambo74 #60 2 years ago

    It was this or go bust...