Codemasters undergoes restructuring, layoffs reported

<p>Codemasters is currently undergoing a &&num;8220&semi;restructuring&&num;8221&semi; process which is apparently resulting in layoffs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;gamesindustry&period;biz&sol;articles&sol;2013-01-18-codemasters-facing-redundancies" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">GamesIndustry International<&sol;a> has apparently heard from a &&num;8220&semi;strong source&&num;8221&semi; that around eighty staff members will be laid off at Codemasters as a result of the restructuring&comma; the majority being from the developer&&num;8217&semi;s Southam operation&period; However&comma; Codemasters has told <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;joystiq&period;com&sol;2013&sol;01&sol;18&sol;codemasters-restructuring&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Joystiq<&sol;a> that no definite number of affected employees has been released&comma; and that any numbers reported elsewhere are purely &&num;8220&semi;speculative&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Codemasters released the following statement concerning the restructuring&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;As the Company realigns its operations to focus on areas of increased strategic importance and decrease resources in areas that are not delivering value for the business&comma; the Company has proposed the restructure of certain aspects within its digital development and publishing units in line with future product strategy&period; As a result of the proposed restructure&comma; the Company has therefore entered into a period of collective consultation with the affected employees&period; The restructure is not companywide and is not anticipated to impact the development of its core console and PC titles such as Grid 2 or its annual Formula One title&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Codemasters is one of the oldest surviving British game studios&comma; having been launched in 1986&comma; some of its most recent games include the driving games <em>Dirt&colon; Showdown<&sol;em> and <em>F1 2012<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&lbrack;Via&colon; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;joystiq&period;com&sol;2013&sol;01&sol;18&sol;codemasters-restructuring&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Joystiq<&sol;a>&rsqb;<&sol;p>&NewLine;