It's been rumoured from the day the bad news was broken, but Codemasters have now confirmed that they have with immediate effect acquired SEGA Racing Studio which was announced to be closing a couple of weeks ago.

Codemasters are calling the move one that will "accelerate growth for Codemasters Studios." The historic but recently lacklustre UK company has a history in racing simulations with the Colin McRae and TOCA series, and are heavily pushing the upcoming middle-of-the-road Race Driver: GRID.

Rod Cousens, chief executive of Codemasters says “In seizing this opportunity, we have created additional resources to escalate our plans in the racing segment. We hope to welcome more than 40 people to the company and we have enjoyed the full co-operation of our friends at Sega in making this happen. It is good business for Codemasters, an exciting prospect and there will be more to come as we are not content to stand still.”

As SEGA Rally finally earns its rightful crown of Warehouse8 Forum Favourite, we wait with bated breath for a new arcade racer with a capitalised monosyllable subtitle. Although, to be frank, I haven't had much time for Codemasters and their shit games. A new era please Codies.