The "majority" of Need for Speed dev Criterion are shifting to Battlefield
Good news for fans of heavy artillery, less good news for lovers of sleek rides. Criterion, British-based creator of the Burnout racing games and recent Need for Speed titles, will work primarily on EA and DICE's Battlefield shooters in future. The studio's first objective: improving the contemporary-set Battlefield 2042, which our Ed Thorn described as "an FPS package that has its fun moments, but one that's blighted by performance issues" back in 2021.
As reported by Eurogamer, the studio will shift to being part of EA Entertainment rather than EA Sports, and there are apparently no layoffs resulting from this act of franchise musical chairs.
"The majority of the [Criterion] team will be working alongside DICE, Ripple Effect, and Ridgeline that are led by Byron Beede, GM of Battlefield," Battlefield and Apex franchise head Vince Zampella explained in a statement. "Criterion's experience with Battlefield, our technology and building engaging experiences will have an immediate positive impact as we continue to work on Battlefield 2042, and as we continue pre-production on a connected Battlefield Universe. There is no better studio to join us on this journey and I couldn't be more excited."
A small "core group" of Criterion devs will continue to work on Need for Speed, which saw an outing only last November in the shape of Need for Speed: Unbound - unreviewed by RPS, because we all despise and fear the open road here, but widely deemed to be a solid piece of automotive malarkey, though sadly far from a best-seller. An EA Sports spokesperson told Eurogamer that "racing continues to be a critical part of the EA Sports portfolio as we grow sports fandom around the world."
Zampella is personally looking forward to
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