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Criterion will develop the next Need for Speed game, Ghost Games will refocus as an engineering hub

It appears that Need for Speed: Heat was the last game that Ghost Games developed for Electronic Arts. According to the publisher, the franchise will return to Criterion Games. Thus, the Burnout studio will develop the next Need for Speed title.

Criterion was responsible for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. It also helped on Need for Speed: Rivals.

As EA stated:

“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.”

But what about Ghost Games? According to the publisher, this studio will refocus as an engineering hub. Thus, the studio will support development across EA’s portfolio.

Electronic Arts continued:

“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 concluded that despite its efforts, it’s become clear that it cannot sustain a triple-A studio in Gothenburg. EA has been trying to achieve this these several years, which is why it’s pulling the plug on Ghost Games. On the other hand, EA believes that Criterion can deliver new Need for Speed experiences for a long time to come.

18 thoughts on “Criterion will develop the next Need for Speed game, Ghost Games will refocus as an engineering hub”

  1. NO DEAR GOD NO, CRITERION SUCKS, CARS DIDNT TURN IN MOST WANTED AND HOT PURSUIT, NOOOOO.

    Omg no this is evil, why you do this ea? WHY?

    Here we go again, no customization, drift brake to turn, freaking burnout all over.

    1. Criterion gameplay is MILES better than what we have now. NFS HP 2010 is one of the best in the entire franchise

      1. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA lol dude. No open world no customization vehicles drive like crap, cops are scripted spawns.

  2. I like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit from 2010. If they are gonna at least try to make a good and innovative game then there is hope but NFS is a dead and not much respected IP these days.

    1. HP 2010 was really, really good, one of the best NFS ever to me. They nailed it in that game, but the original Criterion staff is pretty much gone, so what they will come up with now is up to anyone’s guesses…

  3. Damn it! The last need for speed was good the best in years and I really don’t like what criterion makes with the franchise every time it’s take controls, and It seems that it for ever

  4. The only game I liked from Criterion was Burnout Paradise and NFS Hot Pursuit. The other were sh*t. Criterion cannot deliver what fans want or means to understand what they want in a NFS game, except style.

    1. you’re crazy. NFS HP and Burnout games were AWESOME. I trust them to deliver the best possible NFS games. Some people think their Most Wanted wasn’t that good, but that’s because EA rushed it… even so, their take on Hot Pursuit was so good, that they got a free pass from me. The thing that scares me is that pretty much none of their original staff is there anymore, they all left, so…

      1. Like I said, NFS Hot Pursuit was a good game (I cannot tell you how much I played and enjoyed it’s awesomeness, alongside Burnout) with the now long gone Creative Director Craig Sullivan and a bunch of other good people who had experience, none of the people who worked on NFS and Burnout are there. It’s like saying Ghost Games 2 are the new developers for NFS Franchise.

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