NEED FOR SPEED Franchise Is Heading Back To Criterion

February 12, 2020 Ryan Engstrom

Well, this is kind of a bummer/good news type of moment… It looks like EA is going to be handing the reigns of the Need for Speed franchise from Ghost Games back over to Criterion. Criterion has previously developed the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed: Most Wanted reboots as well as their own iconic Burnout franchise. It would seem the reason for this shakeup in developers comes down to the fact that EA can’t seem to keep Ghost Games properly staffed to develop a AAA title and would rather reallocate resources to be more efficient. In a statement given to GameIndustry.biz, EA had the following to say about the shift.

With a strong history and passion for racing games and vision for what we can create, the Criterion team is going to take Need for Speed into the next-generation. Ghost Games have helped to bring some great Need for Speed experiences to our players. Consistently delivering that at AAA levels means we need teams with diverse skills in locations where we can continually support them and bring in new team members to join. Despite our best efforts to establish an independent development group in Gothenburg over several years, it’s become clear that the breadth of talent we need to maintain a full AAA studio is just not available to us there. 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. Criterion is a fantastic studio, and we're looking forward to adding to their talented team and building a great future for Need for Speed. The engineering teams in Gothenburg are also vital to our ongoing plans across EA. 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 Games

It is unfortunate about the situation over at Ghost Games especially since Need for Speed Heat has been such a blast to play and far better than either Criterion NFS titles too me. It is good to know that most of the team will be retained to continue working on the series. For those who will need to be let go, we wish you the best of luck in quickly finding a new position.

What do you all think about this shakeup in the Need for Speed franchise?