Codemasters drops action to focus on racing

In a move to become the winner in the racing genre, Codemasters has announced it will create the Codemasters Racing brand to focus solely on its F1, DiRT and Grid franchises, abandoning the action genre altogether.

The move means games such as Bodycount and the Operation Flashpoint series will no longer bear a Codemasters logo, but it was a tough decision that had to be made, communications chief Rich Eddy told to MCV. "Racing is our DNA, it is our heritage, it is our specialization and it is our absolute focus going forward."

Codemasters had already been heading in that direction when it said last September it was closing down Bodycount studio to add resources to its racing development teams.

The company also revealed that the Dirt, Grid and F1 titles will be united in an online racing hub called Racenet, allowing users to have a single profile across the three franchises and any other racing games that Codemasters Racing may create. The new service will launch on May 1, the same day a DiRT Showdown demo. The game will be the rebranded company's first release on May 25.