Codemasters back on track after posting first profit in five years

Racing firm Codemasters has made its first operational profit in five years and predicts ‘double digit’ growth going forwards.

The news follows the publisher’s acquisition of the Evolution team, the creators of games such as DriveClub and Motorstorm.

Speaking to MCV, Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier said that the firm had endured a challenging few years as it struggled with the move to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The company has been through some difficult years,” Sagnier said.

The transition to the new machines has not been easy and in the last couple of years we have focused on what we are good at, doubling down on racing and cutting the areas which we didn’t feel were strategic for us. We have ended up in fiscal year 2016 with our first operational profit in five years, which is a big achievement.

For as far as we can see, we are growing every year and we’re talking big double digits, we’re not talking about a few per cent.”

The firm’s big release this week, Dirt Rally, debuted at No.2 in the charts, and was just a handful of units behind Quantum Break.

He continued: It’s a very positive time for the company. Dirt Rally has done very well. F1 2015 was successful, we did two-and-a-half times the number of units we did the year before. Our morale is up because when you do good games and they’re successful, your employees are happy. And, by the way, so are your shareholders.”