EA deal opens door for Codemasters to get creative with F1 franchise

After Codemasters' shareholders gave the greenlight for the EA takeover to go ahead, it seems as though this will be completed.

When this will be confirmed isn't clear, but we can wonder about how this will change Codies' games.

Something that could be implemented into the official Formula 1 game is Volta. Volta has been popularised in EA's FIFA series, but how could it make its way into F1?

What is Volta?

Volta is a game mode that was introduced for FIFA 20. This mode pays homage to the FIFA Street games by focussing on 5v5, futsal and street games rather than the traditional 11v11 matches.

Volta also features a story mode, which tells a rags to riches tale of a kid going from playing in the streets to winning the world championship.

On a sidenote, McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo is in FIFA 21's Volta, so there's already been crossover between the two series.

F1 Volta

So, how could the F1 series include Volta?

Those that played F1 2019 might have an idea of what to expect. In this game's Career Mode, the player began in Formula 2 and took part in three races.

The beginning to F1 2019's Career Mode came with fully acted cutscenes and a short story. Some were hoping to see this expanded into F1 2020, but Codies needed to focus on My Team.

An expanded Codies development crew is one of the positives from this takeover we highlighted in a recent article. This could mean we see a Volta Career Mode where you begin in F2 (or even F3) and work your way up to F1.

Devon Butler could return as your arch-rival, with Lukas Weber coming back as your teammate. My Team would remain the same as F1 2020's, with Volta a true alternate single player option.

As amazing as My Team is in F1 2020, the return of a story mode would be very welcome. Volta could be exactly that for the Formula 1 games, but could we see it as early as F1 2021?

When could we see F1 Volta?

It is very unlikely we'll see something so different to the norm like Volta in F1 2021. Codemasters' development path will have been set in stone for some time now and most of F1 2021 will have already been developed, as its release date isn't that far away.

As long as the EA takeover goes ahead, we will likely see small changes to online and the EA branding being on F1 2021. Aside from that, you shouldn't expect major changes from the game Codies were going to produce by themselves.

F1 2022, however, is a different story. This game will be produced with EA at the helm for the full development cycle. Therefore, it's far more likely we'll get modes like Volta introduced to the F1 series then.

Volta trailer

If you want to get a better idea of what Volta in FIFA 21 is like, you can check out the trailer below: