Codemasters' Rod Cousens Part 1
The CEO talks F1 paranoia and addresses the persistent rumours about the health of the company
Part of it is the industry we're in. I don't trade in rumours, because I think it's a destructive force, but there are rumours I hear about other companies - some of them are clearly unfounded, and some of them may have an element of truth.
There is no doubt that coming out of the position we were in is not something that's turned around overnight, and there is a lag. There's a lag from creditors and so on that we've still addressed, and they can fuel those rumours - clearly.
But they should also put it in the context that 50 per cent of Codemasters' stock is owned by one of the biggest companies in the world. That company continues to invest in us, it continues to look to us to expand our horizons - whether that's in emerging markets or emerging segments. That company continues to make financial investments in us.
I think there's a lot of ill-informed speculation that's traded out there that has very little substance to it.
Apart from the intricacies of the shareholding structure that sites behind us - which I can understand people not being informed on, or being able to take a view on - where it's particularly galling is where you come off of the back of a 2 million-seller that's F1 2010 that any other software house in the world, regardless of size, would like to have in their portfolio... a number of whom had that opportunity and dismissed it.
And that's just in the first month as well - and we all know that as a sport, Formula One's roots are within Europe and Asia, and yet the largest single market in the world is the US. So that 2 million units has been achieved largely without the United States... and if you translated that up on a pro rata basis that's the equivalent of a 4 million-seller.
I challenge anyone that wouldn't want that. I'm sure they're all knocking on Bernie Ecclestone's door, trying to take the license away from us.
What we don't do as an industry is give enough credit, and it's very easy to knock. We're not complacent as a company, but we're difficult to beat in racing - and someone should give us credit for that.
In the same way that I believe Electronic Arts with FIFA have done a tremendous job - that's come about because they've got 20-plus years invested in development; it's come about with Codemasters and racing because we've got 20-plus years of development. It's not the last two years that we've put into F1 2010 - the game has had the benefit of the expertise, the technology, the DNA that is Codemasters in racing.
For someone to think they can simply come along and try and entice that away with a cheque is unrealistic.
It's a huge advantage. I think one of the understated values of Codemasters is the EGO technology. We've not dependent on going to other people.
We're sat in a building [in Guildford, UK] that used to be Criterion - this is the very building that I came across Burnout in, when I was at Acclaim. As a company we have not needed to go out to a third party middleware provider, where a lot of our peers are dependent on those providers.
There's a history in our industry of them being bought - and then causing complete disarray to your future product output.
Of course. So for us to have 100 per cent ownership of our core engine technology, which is format-agnostic and segment-agnostic, is a huge plus. I think it's a real value to this company; in many ways I think it's the value to this company. It's the heartbeat, the midfield dynamo.
We answered the first question mark in that regard with the release of Operation Flashpoint. If you look at franchises, they evolve and for the most part get stronger. People talk about Grand Theft Auto, but in its first two versions it wasn't a commercial success - or if it was, why did BMG get rid of it? And Gremlin, and Ocean, and Infogrames, when it was there in the midst.
To have found itself in the bosom of Take-Two... this industry is littered with the wise men after the event. But we're all clever, and we know what we're doing [smiles] Nobody when they looked at it, what it was...
You're 100 per cent right. I believe we've demonstrated the effectiveness and viability of the EGO engine with Operation Flashpoint. It's a proven technology across multiple genres, and I think the actual game that's Flashpoint gets stronger with each rendition. We'll prove that when we ship the next version next year.