Codemasters denies reports of US office closure

Codemasters has denied reports surfacing today that it is set to close its US office, saying that the division remains open and operational.

A source speaking to IGN said the publisher was set to lay off its team of ten marketing staff working from its Southern California office following the under performance of key titles at retail.

However, Codemasters has told GamesIndustry.biz today that three marketing staff have in fact been laid off, and not a team of ten.

"As many organisations have in the past year, Codemasters has reassessed the scale of its North American office and is returning to a core Sales and Publishing operation that will receive significant support from our distribution partners," said a spokesperson.

"In light of this restructure, six staff have been let go from the US commercial team, three from marketing; we recognise and thank them for their efforts during the past year. Codemasters' office in Burbank CA remains operational under the management of Bill West and we look forward to a focussed relationship with our distribution and marketing partners going forward."

According to the source speaking to IGN, the poor sales performance of games such as Dirt 2 in the US had led to the company deciding to re-focus on its internal studios.

"They got a lot of money injected into the company a few years back and had some big plans to open up the US office, but it didn't really work out like they wanted it to with the games over here," the source said. "They had good intentions with titles like Rise of the Argonauts - just not the right teams."