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Kombat veteran joins Codemaster

The video games veteran who helped launch the bloodthirsty Mortal Kombat series will today be confirmed as chief executive of Codemasters, the business behind Colin McRae Rally and Brian Lara Cricket.

Rod Cousens, dubbed a godfather of the industry by his peers, has promised to make the Leamington Spa-based company a worldwide player.

Earlier this year, the technology investment firm Benchmark Capital bought 40% of Codemasters in a deal valuing the company at about pounds 75m.

Benchmark has big ambitions for the previously family-controlled business and has handed Mr Cousens the mandate of creating a 'global force' in a competitive sector. The games industry generated global sales of nearly $20bn (pounds 10.5bn) last year, according to Screen Digest estimates.

'With some financial assistance from Benchmark, Codemasters is positioning itself for the next generation of gaming systems and to exploit [games] franchises on a global basis,' said Mr Cousens.

The new head of Code- masters was previously chief executive of Acclaim Entertainment, publisher of Mortal Kombat, which surprised the industry last year by succumbing to bankruptcy when a key creditor withdrew its backing. Mr Cousens was one of the first executives to recognise the potential of gaming, founding his first games publishing outfit in 1981.

Codemasters will seriously consider a flotation to fund the acquisition of rivals, although an initial public offering (IPO) is not imminent, the new chief executive added.

'We can only do so much organically,' he said. 'Part of the strategy will have to involve mergers and acquisitions. If the performance is there, an IPO would give us the vehicle to do that.'

Codemasters reported a pre-tax profit of pounds 13.5m last year, on turnover of pounds 75m.

Ynon Kreiz, a Benchmark partner and former chief executive of the Fox Kids Europe channel, said the investment firm expected Codemasters to move into new markets, take advantage of technologies such as 3G phones and build a bigger library of titles.

'The industry is perceived in some people's minds as an offshoot of the media business but it's right in the mainstream,' he said. 'We are looking to build a global force. It's a UK company but the whole market is the world.'

Mr Kreiz, who joined Benchmark this year, said the rising use of free games on mobile phones and on internet service providers such as Yahoo! and MSN underlined the potential of the gaming industry to push new technologies.

Although the term 'technological convergence" became a a notorious catch-all in the dotcom boom, hardware such as the Sony PlayStation provided genuine results by playing CDs and DVDs as well as computer games, Mr Kreiz said. 'It will drive mobile [and] broadband penetration,' he added.