The current logo, used since 31 May 2007
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Formerly called
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Electric Games Company Limited (1986) |
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Subsidiary | |
Industry | Video game industry |
Founded | 6 August 1986 |
Headquarters | Southam, England |
Number of locations
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5 studios (2017) |
Key people
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Richard Darling, David Darling, Jim Darling, Anil Ambani |
Products |
Brian Lara Cricket series Colin McRae Rally series Dizzy series EGO game engine Formula One series LMA Manager series Micro Machines series Operation Flashpoint series Overlord |
Revenue | £104.9 million (2008) |
Number of employees
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~ 500 |
Parent | Reliance Entertainment |
Website | codemasters |
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.
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.
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.