The last few years have been rough for British game developer and publisher Codemasters. Despite a lengthy and varied history going back to the 1980s, their more recent games have seen mixed success.
Last year, after their first-person shooter Bodycount launched to decidedly mixed reviews, and admist accusations of unlawful working conditions, Codemasters shut down the studio that made the game.
However, the developer has remained successful on the racing game scene, with its DiRT and Formula 1 series staying popular with genre fans. At a press event, the studio announced that going forward, they will publish all of their racing games under the label Codemasters Racing, and cease work on action games, shooters, or any other genre.
Communications director Rich Eddy described racing as the "absolute razor focus" for the studio, and confirmed to Gamasutra that, "The focus is an exclusive one, there are no other genre properties in development at this time; racing is everything."
In addition to narrowing their scope, Codemasters intends to rally the racing game fan community with a social hub called RaceNet, designed to link players of all Codemasters racing games with each other across all platforms. Registration for RaceNet is scheduled to open May 1, and the service is planned to launch with DiRT Showdown on May 25.
The New Face of Codemasters [IGN]
Codemasters turns focus purely to racing games, launches social hub [Gamasutra]