Codemasters Cuts Jobs After Ending Rally Game Development

Electronic Arts (EA) has confirmed job cuts at Codemasters following the cancellation of their World Rally Championship (WRC) project.

The UK-based racing game developer will be reducing staff as it shifts away from rally games, ending a 25-year legacy that began with Colin McRae Rally in 1998.

In a statement to VGC, a Codemasters spokesperson explained:

"As a business, we are constantly evolving to meet the growing needs of our players and driving greater focus across our portfolio. This has led us to look at reducing some roles, while we redeploy as many as possible against our strategic priorities."

The company recently announced that the Hard Chargers DLC pack would be the "last expansion" for EA SPORTS WRC. This decision comes less than halfway through what was originally a five-year licensing deal that began in 2023, when Codemasters secured the WRC rights from Nacon.

While the existing EA SPORTS WRC game will remain available for both current and new players, the studio is "pausing development plans on future rally titles."

These cuts at Codemasters are part of a larger downsizing effort across EA. According to Bloomberg, EA planned to eliminate between 300 and 400 positions earlier this year. This follows previous workforce reductions of about 5% in February 2024 and roughly 6% in March 2023.

EA's recent financial struggles appear to be driving these changes. In January 2025, the publisher admitted several big-budget projects had underperformed, including Dragon Age: The Veilguard and FC 25. This announcement caused EA shares to drop approximately 20%, though they have since recovered.

Respawn Entertainment, another EA subsidiary, has also been affected by the company's restructuring. The studio recently canceled two games, including a Titanfall-universe project codenamed R7, and laid off dozens of staff members.

For racing game fans, Codemasters' withdrawal from rally games represents a significant loss. The studio's rally games have been entertaining World Rally Championship enthusiasts for over two decades, from the original Colin McRae Rally through the DiRT series and finally to the WRC titles. This shift suggests Codemasters will focus more on Formula One, its remaining sports license.