The incredibly creative and talented team at Criterion are hard at work on a new project for next-gen consoles as new IP continues to be a major priority across EA.
"The incredibly creative and talented team at Criterion are hard at work on a new project for next-gen consoles as new IP continues to be a major priority across EA. Matt Webster is leading development of the new game and the Criterion studio moving forward. Matt has been part of Criterion for years and has an exciting vision for this new game."“
After being impressed with Criterion's creation and development of the Burnout franchise, EA saw fit to hand it the reigns to the Need for Speed series in 2012. While Need for Speed: Most Wanted was well received when it released later that year, the next instalment, Need for Speed: Rivals, was developed by EA's Ghost studio, which was then given control of the franchise from Criterion in the middle of last year.
The fate of Criterion following this has been unclear for some time. At the beginning of last year, Alex Ward explained Criterion would be moving away from creating racing games, with the number of full-time employees dwindling to just 17 in the months that followed. What that number stands at now is anyone's guess.Ward and Sperry's LinkedIn profiles reveals Criterion is working on an unannounced title called "Project Zero". When this will see the light of day remains uncertain but, when it does, it'll be without further input from the studio co-founders. Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter.