EA has announced that it is giving Need for Speed back to Burnout developer Criterion Games, after dissolving Ghost Games and rebranding it as EA Gothenburg. This announcement means that Criterion will be back at it again in developing future Need for Speed titles.
The title is being given back to Criterion from Ghost Games, who not only are known for the famous Burnout games, but have also made the three previous titles in the Need for Speed franchise that includes Need for Speed Rivals, Need for Speed Payback, and Need for Speed Heat. This comes after rumors that Ghost Games is being dissolved and will be rebranded as EA Gothenburg, and will act as a support studio that will assist in developing other games.
In a statement to Gameindustry.biz, EA has said that the rebranding will allow some of the staff to stay while other team members will be transferred to Criterion and other studios within EA. However, there are still 30 positions that could be at risk at Ghost Games.
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.
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.
On the other hand, Criterion Games is no stranger to Need for Speed titles, as having previously worked on titles like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010), and Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012). At that time, Criterion Games was looking to downsize and let go of many of the employees that moved to Ghost Games. In that time, Criterion worked with EA Dice on the Star Wars games namely Star Wars: Battlefront, Battlefront II, and even Battlefield V.
What do you think of Criterion Games developing the next Need for Speed game? Post your comments below.
