No New Need for Speed Game This Year As Criterion Shifts Focus To Supporting Next Battlefield Game

EA has shifted Criterion off of the Need for Speed franchise to help support DICE for the next Battlefield game coming out this year. This means Need for Speed will not have an entry releasing this year, and Criterion will return to the franchise after helping ship Battlefield 2021. 

No New Need for Speed Game This Year As Criterion Shifts Focus To Supporting Next Battlefield Game

This information comes from Polygon, which had an interview with EA’s chief studio officer Laura Miele.

This is pretty common with EA, as Criterion helped on both Battlefront and Battlefront 2. EA also purchased racing studio Codemasters earlier last year. This expands their racing catalog tremendously with games like Dirt, F1, and more. 

Between this and having to shift to a work from home setup during the pandemic has pushed EA to make this decision. Allowing Need for Speed to not be overshadowed by Codemaster releases and allowing the next entry to have more time in the oven. Here is a quote from the interview with Polygon.

“There’s no way we would have made a decision like this without including [Criterion] and discussing this with them first, and the impact that they could have on [Battlefield],” Miele said. “They’ve worked on [Star Wars] Battlefront, they’ve worked on Battlefields, and they have a really tight, close collaborative partnership with DICE. I’m really confident that this is going to be a pretty positive win for them.”

While NEed for Speed fans may be disappointed in this news, ultimately it sounds like this decision will result in both a better Battlefield and Need for Speed game. Hopefully, we will see more of this Battlefield project soon.

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