In the final quarter of last year, there was quite a big rivalry between Take-Two Interactive and Electronic Arts for acquiring Codemasters, the publisher behind franchises such as F1, Dirt, Project Cars, Onrush, and Grid, but now it seems the parent company of 2K Games and Rockstar has no interest in making a new offer anymore.

In a recent statement from Take-Two Interactive, while they didn't exactly announce their withdrawal from Codemasters' acquisition, they did mention that they will continue to pursue selective opportunities that are capable of enhancing Take-Two's long-term growth in the future. You can read the statement below:

Take-Two remains a highly disciplined organization and, with its strong balance sheet, will continue to pursue selectively organic and inorganic opportunities that are designed to enhance the Take-Two’s long-term growth and deliver results to its shareholders.

Codemasters was first approached by Take-Two Interactive for an acquisition valuing around $980 million. While everything seemed settled between the two companies, especially with an official statement from Take-Two's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, regarding the finalizing of the deal in the first quarter of 2021, a new offer from Electronic Arts arrived for Codemasters valuing nearly $1.2 billion.

After a few weeks, Electronic Arts' CEO, Andrew Wilson, revealed that they have reached an agreement with Codemasters to acquire the British publisher and developer until the end of the first quarter of 2021. Since then, Take-Two didn't make any new bid for Codemasters and now with the statement above, it seems EA will no longer have a serious rival in acquiring Codemasters.

The parent company of Rockstar and 2K doesn't have a big racing developer among its development studios at the time being, however, it seems the profit that a publisher can make for the company would be much important than the genre it works in. Codemasters managed to launch three triple-A racing titles in 2020, which is an outstanding achievement for them, especially when you know that all of them rated positively by reviewers and players.

With Codemasters joining Electronic Arts, there might be a sequel to Need For Speed Shift 2, eventually.