EA confirms Codemasters leadership departures, 4 months after buyout

Electronic Arts has confirmed the departure of Codemasters’ CEO and CFO, just four months after it acquired the company.

CEO Frank Sagnier and CFO Rashid Varachia will leave the F1 and Dirt publisher at the end of the month, EA confirmed in a statement issued to GI.biz.

A company spokesperson reportedly claimed that the departures had “always been part of the plan”, but have now been brought forward due to the speed of Codemasters’ integration into EA’s studios.

Both Codemasters and its Slightly Mad studio (Project Cars) will join the EA Sports umbrella, it said. Slightly Mad will continue to be led by studio CEO Ian Bell, while Codemasters’ SVP of product development Clive Moody and SVP of publishing Jonathan Bunney will take over the running of the company.

“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 in a statement.

“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.

“We are incredibly thankful to Frank and Rashid for everything they have done for Codemasters and Electronic Arts, and we all wish them the very best. We know the culture they have created and their innovative spirit will very much live on at the studio through their outstanding leadership team.”

Last month Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson insisted that the company had no intention of moulding Codemasters into ‘just another EA studio’.

Following February’s $1.2 billion acquisition of Codemasters, Wilson told MCV he wanted the UK-based racing game developer to retain its unique identity.

“Similar to Respawn, our orientation isn’t to come in and take over Codemasters; our orientation isn’t to come in and turn Codemasters into another Electronic Arts studio; our orientation is around the provision of opportunity,” Wilson claimed.

“This industry is all about amazing, creative talent. 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.”