Codemasters turns focus purely to racing games, launches social hub

Racing game specialist Codemasters has launched a new label within the publisher that will focus solely on racing titles, along with a new online racing gaming hub. Codemasters Racing will house the company's Dirt, GRID and F1 franchises, with upcoming Dirt Showdown the first title to be released from the new studio on May 25. The formation of this new label marks Codemasters move to focus solely on racing games, with no games currently in development under other genres. "Racing is the absolute razor focus for all titles currently in development and those slated for future development across the studios in Warwickshire and Birmingham," the company told Gamasutra. "The focus is an exclusive one, there are no other genre properties in development at this time; racing is everything. We are also increasing headcount across the operation, which currently employs around 700. We are expanding the teams by a further 100+ development positions, which are opening over the course of the year across the sites." The company is also launching an online gaming hub called Racenet, with the aim to provide a social gaming service specifically for its racing games. An open beta for the service will launch alongside the release of the Dirt Showdown demo, and will gives users a profile on which they can check the rewards they have received from the various Codemasters racing games, and challenge friends. The move continues Codemasters' shift away from genres outside of racing, as it closed its Bodycount studio late last year.