Two months after first announcing its intention to acquire UK based racing developer Codemasters, it has now withdrawn its $1 billion offer, being out-bid by Electronic Arts.

EA trumpeted Take-Two's bid with a $1.2 billion offer out of nowhere last month. Rather than place a counter-offer, Take-Two has withdrawn it's offer entirely, leaving EA open to complete its acquisition.

If EA does complete the deal, it'll mean games such as the official F1 series, DiRT and GRiD will live under EA, joining their own racing games such as Need for Speed from Criterion. Certainly, it'll be a new direction for EA, with Codemasters producing much more realistic simulators than EA's more arcade-style racing titles.

Take-Two is still on the hunt for new developers to acquire though, according to its statement. Codemasters won't be one of them, but there does seem to be something of an arms race on right now with companies including EA and Microsoft looking to expand through acquisition.