Need for Speed remains one of the few major arcade racing franchises to survive the genre’s decline alongside Forza Horizon. Fans hoped Criterion Games would return to racing after completing its work on Battlefield 6, but Electronic Arts appears to have very different plans for the British studio. Criterion is currently focused exclusively on the future of Battlefield, making another internally developed Need for Speed unlikely for the foreseeable future.
Four years have passed since the release of Need for Speed Unbound, developed with the involvement of Codemasters and Criterion Games. The title received mixed reviews, while many of the franchise’s most dedicated followers reacted far more negatively, yet there was still an expectation that Criterion would eventually return to racing with its full development strength. That hope made sense because Need for Speed has become a rare survivor in a market where many arcade racing franchises have disappeared, entered long periods of inactivity, or lost much of their former importance. Electronic Arts, however, is concentrating an increasing amount of talent and resources around Battlefield, and Criterion’s current position makes the military shooter its unquestioned priority.
The direction had already become visible in 2025. Electronic Arts reorganized development of Battlefield, ending the era in which DICE carried primary responsibility alone and bringing several teams together under the Battlefield Studios banner. Criterion joined DICE, Ripple Effect Studios, and Motive Studio as one of the four main developers behind Battlefield 6. Its responsibilities centered largely on the campaign, vehicle gameplay, and the creation of fast, cinematic action. Criterion had contributed to earlier entries in the franchise, but those assignments were considerably smaller. It has now become one of the studios expected to shape Battlefield over the long term.
Criterion Games Is Now Simply “a Battlefield Studio”
After the release of Battlefield 6, many fans expected the British team to finish its supporting work and return to a new Need for Speed. Rebecka Coutaz, Vice President and General Manager of Battlefield Studios Europe, made it clear in an interview with IGN Nordic that no such transition is currently planned. “Criterion is a Battlefield studio,” she said, adding that the team is now “solely focused on Battlefield.” According to Coutaz, the intensity, cinematic presentation, and immediate sense of reward associated with the shooter are also among Criterion’s greatest strengths.
Coutaz pointed to the studio’s 2006 shooter Black, which demonstrated long before the current partnership that Criterion’s expertise extended beyond high-speed racing. “The intensity, the cinematic vision, and the level of instant gratification that our players appreciate so much in Battlefield are genuinely Criterion strengths, and all of that goes back to Black,” she explained. Electronic Arts has similarly described the team as a specialist in speed, intensity, and smooth, satisfying gameplay, experience that became particularly valuable in the campaign and vehicle combat of Battlefield 6.
The possibility of Criterion returning to racing has not been completely eliminated. Coutaz argued that studios perform and develop best when they are allowed to express their own identity through the parts of a project entrusted to them. In theory, that leaves a narrow opening for another racing game in the future, but EA’s current priorities suggest that such a move is neither imminent nor likely under Criterion’s present structure. The publisher previously said that Need for Speed could return in new and interesting ways, but it has yet to announce a specific project or identify a team that would develop it.
The confirmation has arrived at an especially bitter moment for longtime followers because Criterion Games is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Social media quickly filled with frustrated messages from Need for Speed and Burnout fans, many of whom criticized Electronic Arts for placing an increasing number of studios and resources behind Battlefield. For three decades, Criterion’s name has been closely associated with spectacular, fast, accessible racing games. It may now spend years away from the genre that made the studio famous.
Source: 3DJuegos, Windows Central, Electronic Arts
