EA chief studios officer Laura Miele stated that the developer was not being taken off the project, however, nor was it being handed over to another studio in the meantime. Instead, they would simply postpone work on it until its contribution to Battlefield development was done.
This next release in the Need for Speed series will be the first time Criterion has returned to full development on the franchise since 2012’s Most Wanted, although the studio did also assist on the recent remaster of 2010’s Hot Pursuit, which released last year. The company has been creating racing games for quite some time, having also developed the Burnout games.
Miele also explained that this decision was made because the studio has a history of collaborating with Battlefield developer DICE on previous projects, such as the Star Wars Battlefront games and earlier entries in the Battlefield series. Additionally, EA’s recent buyout of Codemasters gave them the freedom to make this move, as the purchase of the specialist racing publisher means that the company will still release at least one racing game this year thanks to the annual F1 series.
What do you think of the next Need for Speed being delayed to focus on Battlefield? Let us know in the comments.
