EA Says Criterion Will Take Over Need for Speed Series

Criterion Games will now be responsible for future development of the Need for Speed series of games, Electronic Arts confirmed this week. The studio is known for creating the Burnout series and has created two different Need for Speed games in the past, so it certainly has experience with both that type of game as well as the franchise itself. Ghost Games, the studio responsible for Need for Speed until just recently, will be refocused into an engineering hub that’ll support development of different EA projects.

EA confirmed the transition of the Need for Speed property and the plans for the UK studios in a statement shared with GamesIndustry.biz. Many people from the Ghost Games creative team that’s located in Gothenburg are planned to be transferred to the Guildford-based Criterion and other positions within EA. Some members will remain in Gothenburg to lend their support to different projects.

“The engineering expertise in our Gothenburg team, some of whom are architects of the Frostbite engine, is vital to a number of our ongoing projects, and they would remain in that location,” EA told GamesIndustry.biz.

With those two groups of employees accounted for, there are still several who do not all have a plan set for them yet. EA added that there would be 30 staff members in Gothenburg not within those two groups who will hopefully be placed in other positions within the company.

“Outside of the engineers and those that we plan to transfer to other positions, there would be 30 additional staff in Gothenburg, and we would hope to place as many of them as possible into other roles in the company,” EA continued.

Explaining the decision to put Need for Speed back in the hands of Criterion, EA said the “breadth of talent” needed to maintain a full AAA studio simply wasn’t available in Gothenburg. By contrast, Criterion’s location also doubles as one of the largest game development hubs in the UK, GamesIndustry.biz noted.

EA concluded its statements by calling Criterion a “fantastic studio” and saying the Gothenburg team would be vital moving forward. Need for Speed isn’t going anywhere for a while either seeing how EA said Criterion will be creating Need for Speed experiences for some time in the future.

“Criterion can also provide the consistent leadership that we need to continue creating and delivering new Need for Speed experiences for a long time to come,” EA said.