Over the summer, mega-publisher EA announced that it was internally restructuring its studios, forming EA Entertainment and EA Sports. You can likely guess what games fall under the EA Sports organization, while EA Entertainment’s umbrella spreads much wider. To that end, the company announced today that Criterion Games, best known for its work on the Burnout and Need for Speed franchises, has been brought into the Entertainment fold. On top of that, Criterion Games will now be putting the bulk of its focus on the Battlefield series.
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EA Entertainment general manager Vinca Zampella dropped the official announcement today, saying, “As we’ve said before, we’re all-in on Battlefield. Today, Criterion is added to our world-class Battlefield studios dedicated to ushering in a new era for the franchise. The majority of the team will be working alongside DICE, Ripple Effect, and Ridgeline that are led by Byron Beede, GM of Battlefield.”
Some might be wondering why a team that is so well-known for racers is working on an FPS franchise. Well, Criterion has previously served as a support studio for the franchise for both Battlefield V and Battlefield 2042, in addition to helping with Star Wars: Battlefront II. So, this change likely won’t be too earth-shattering for the team. In fact, Criterion’s history in the genre goes back to 2006 when it released Black during the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox days. It’s safe to say that Criterion has the chops and should be a solid partner for DICE and the rest of the Battlefield crew.
What About Need for Speed?
Of course, this all leaves the Need for Speed franchise in a very odd state. Remember, Criterion had just been given back the reigns for the series because Ghost Games wasn’t able to recapture the magic of the racing series. That move just happened in 2020 and Criterion was only able to put out one game before this move. Yes, Need for Speed: Unbound didn’t do much better critically than Heat and actually sold much worse, but it is still strange to see EA only giving them one chance before switching things up.
That said, it’s not all doom and gloom for Need for Speed fans. Zampella ended his announcement by talking about his love of car culture and saying, “I’m really looking forward to working with a core group as we shape what’s next for the [Need for Speed] franchise.” While most of the team will be working on Battlefield, that doesn’t mean Need for Speed is going away entirely or even to another developer. Things could and likely will change as EA’s plans shift, but for now, it looks like Criterion will get at least one more crack at the NFS franchise, it just won’t be doing it with the full weight of the studio behind it.
