Last year, EA announced that Criterion Games was finally moving back to take over development on Need for Speed after spending time helping DICE with Star Wars Battlefront II and Battlefield V. The NFS franchise has been in a rut for the last few years under Ghost Games. Many fans were hoping Criterion could inject some nitrous fuel into the languishing series. However, we’ve now learned that fans are going to have to wait just a bit longer.
EA announced that Criterion will move resources from the Need for Speed franchise to help DICE out with the next Battlefield title. As you’d expect, that means the NFS game won’t be coming out any time soon. The Battlefield series is one of EA’s strongest properties, and if they need to push resources over to the project to ensure it hits its target dates, they’re going to do so. And Criterion has experience working with DICE, making them an attractive candidate.
EA also recently acquired Codemasters, the studio behind both the F1 and Dirt series. So, while we won’t be getting a Need for Speed game soon, EA will have other racing games available in the near future. With all of that in mind, the news makes sense.
That said, this news will leave many fans disheartened. The Need for Speed franchise has been spinning its wheels for most of the last decade. Criterion was poised to breathe new life into it finally. Hopefully, they can finally do so sometime in 2022.
