“The Need for Speed team at Criterion are joining their colleagues working on Battlefield,” Zampella said in a statement to Eurogamer today.
At the time, Battlefield boss Vince Zampella said Criterion’s Need for Speed team would continue work to “shape what’s next for the franchise”.
Need for Speed and Burnout developer Criterion is now entirely focused on developing EA’s next Battlefield game, the publisher has told Eurogamer – but there are still plans for the studio to return to its racing roots at some point in the future.
Back in September 2023, EA announced that the “majority” of Criterion would move over to support development on the next Battlefield game, while a smaller “core group” within the British studio continued on with Need for Speed.