EA has reportedly stepped in with a bid to purchase Codemasters, about a month after Take-Two announced they were purchasing the British racing game studio. That sounded like a done deal at the time, but now Sky News says otherwise:

Sky News has learnt that EA has tabled a potentially knockout bid for Codemasters, trumping an offer agreed last month with Take-Two Interactive Software, maker of the Red Dead franchise.

A gaming industry source said this weekend that EA was working with bankers at UBS on its offer.

The interest from EA, which has a market value of almost $40bn (£30bn), is likely to be disclosed to the stock market on Monday morning.

EA is among the world's biggest computer games developers, and is best-known for its FIFA-licensed football titles, as well as games based on the Harry Potter books and Star Wars films.

The value of EA's offer was unclear, although it is likely to be at a substantial premium to Codemasters' closing share price on Friday of 534p.

It is not certain whether Take-Two, whose market capitalisation is roughly half the size of EA's, will respond with a counterbid.