Well that didn’t take long. After acquiring Codemasters in February, EA today confirmed the departure of Frank Sagnier and Rashid Varachia – Codemasters former CEO and CFO, respectively.
EA said this move shouldn't come as a surprise, mentioning the departure has "always been part of the plan." Sagnier and Varachia will remain in their current roles until the end of July, at which time Codemasters will be led by Clive Moody – SVP of product development – and Jonathan Bunney – SVP of publishing.
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"Since joining in 2014, Frank has led Codemasters to a position as a globally renowned studio of racing experts and enabled their world-class talent and passion for motorsports to shine and excel on a global stage," EA said. "Rashid's financial leadership has also been integral to Codemasters' success, his contributions include driving key acquisitions, listing on the stock market back in 2018, and leading the due diligence and integration of Codemasters into EA."
Despite the shakeup and recent acquisition, EA has stated Codemasters will retain its individuality.
"This industry is all about amazing, creative talent," Wilson explained. "And we see little upside in the indoctrination of that amazing creative talent. But we do want to provide them access to the things that we get by virtue of our position in the industry."
For now, it sounds like these two high-profile departures will be the only ones caused by the merger.
Codemasters is responsible for a variety of racing games, including Project Cars and Dirt. It's unclear how the recent business moves will impact the series moving forward, although it sounds like EA wants to take a hands-off approach to managing the studio. EA has some deep pockets for Codemasters to work with, and it'll be interesting to see how the partnership pays off in the coming years.
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