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Force India

Codies CEO Rod Cousens sheds more light on the Reliance deal, and explains why it's so important for the company

GamesIndustry.biz How important was the timing of this deal in terms of the security of the company - was it vital that it happened now?
Rod Cousens

It depends - in order to do what the company needs to do to compete and participate in the market, it required investment. The one factor that is true in today's market is that you can't stand still, and it could be argued the company had come a long way, but in order to go on to the next stage it required investment to do so.

As you well know, if you ignore the investment on development, the issue is time - games take time to create, so if you're starting to look at 2012-13 and where it's all going, then clearly investment is always critical.

For it to come right now, for the staff at Codemasters it's like Christmas has come early, rather than Easter.

GamesIndustry.biz No bones about it then, this is a deal that's secured the future of the company?
Rod Cousens

I believe it's wonderful - if you had to go around the world and choose a partner, Reliance ADA is in the Premier League.

GamesIndustry.biz The changes in European distribution and the deal with Koch Media was announced last month - are there any other planned restructuring to take place in light of this deal? Sometimes when companies work together closely there's some repetition of tasks and so on.
Rod Cousens

They shouldn't necessarily be connected, because we would have carried on down that path regardless of the investment partner. My view is that the distribution structure, for us to build - it's a dinosaur, and is no longer part of the future. We'd rather go in the short term with a proven partner, as we've elected, where they have (along with other partners) some mass to go out there - so we secure our traditional business, which is still a significant part of our revenues, and in regions where broadband penetration or speed isn't where it needs to be yet. So it's almost a hybrid situation.

We've gotten on with that, and we continue to build - both for traditional games and dedicated games - the online aspect of our business. This is absolutely cemented now, it couldn't be a stronger statement.

GamesIndustry.biz In terms of the decision-making process at Codemasters, will Reliance have a place on the board?
Rod Cousens

Yes - they will have seats on the board, and we welcome them as board members, along with Balderton, who's obviously a share-holder. We look forward to working with the various companies that they have around the world, be it their existing gaming operations, or any other area that allows collaboration.

GamesIndustry.biz Does the deal impact the development of currently-announced titles at all?
Rod Cousens

No, I don't think so. In fact, I think they'd want to build on it.

GamesIndustry.biz Other publishers have announced their intention to drill down into a greater focus on fewer, core franchises as a response to tricky conditions - how do you evaluate the changing nature of the markets, and the way that you're making decisions today, as opposed to 12-18 months ago?
Rod Cousens

If you reflect on the catalogue, you could argue that some of the franchises may have been marginal - such as Cricket, where today you can really only sell that in England, Australia and to an extent South Africa. Obviously the console penetration in other countries, such as India, is very small.

But we now have the ability to take that from a marginal product to a key franchise by exploiting it in a market where the sport is tantamount to a religion, and on formats such as mobile; or online PC variations of the game; you can talk about the monetisation opportunities with the game that it provides for.

Formula One is obviously a huge opportunity in those markets - but not only Formula One, but when we start to look at DiRT 3, and GRiD, we essentially have a racing universe that we can put out to a global audience.

And then of course, what we've got to do - apart from Flashpoint and Bodycount, which is coming down the line - we've got to look at the action category and see where we can take that to these markets.

But sitting beneath all of that, ironically - and believe me, this was never the lead on the agenda - but titles like Dance Factory, as you look at Bollywood and the TV dance shows... if you then start to look at what we can do through Zapak - plus the Sensible titles we have, such as Cannon Fodder and Megalomania, for us it's just great.

GamesIndustry.biz Finally - the F1 season is underway, and the game itself looks stunning. There's a big fanbase for the old Geoff Crammond games back in the nineties, so will your game bring a return to form for that sport in the interactive space?
Rod Cousens

I think we'll re-energise, in terms of an interactive experience, that entire sport. I think it had become dull, I think we offer much more. We offer the race experience, the driver experience and at the end of the day what can't be disputed - as the Americans say - we do good racing.

I think F1 will once again make sure we stay at the head of that pack.

Rod Cousens is CEO of Codemasters. Interview by Phil Elliott.

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