Codemasters’ Cheshire team has been integrated into fellow UK-based Electronic Arts studio Criterion Games.
The Cheshire studio is the outfit behindDirt 5, which was formed by the former Evolution Studios team that createdPlayStationracing games Driveclub and Motorstorm.
“We can confirmCriterion Gamesand the development team atCodemastersCheshire are officially coming together to create the future ofNeed for Speed,” Codemasters said on Thursday.
“This integration builds off the close partnership the two studios have developed over the past few months.
“Sharing common values and similar cultures, we strongly believe unifying the huge wealth of expertise across both teams will help us to deliver the best racing experiences we can for our players.”
No redundancies have been made as a result of the move, according toGamesIndustry.biz, which reports that Codemasters Birmingham continues to work on the Formula 1 franchise.
We can confirm Criterion Games and the development team at Codemasters Cheshire are officially coming together to create the future of@NeedforSpeed, forming one Criterion studio with two location hubs. [1/3]
EA acquired Codemasters for $1.2 billion in early 2021.
The publisher announced in February 2020 that it had handed Need for Speeddevelopment duties back to Criterion Gamesas it planned to restructureGhost Games, which made the last four entries in the racing series.
Guildford-based Criterion is best known for the Burnout series and has developed two previous Need for Speed titles: 2010’s Hot Pursuit and 2012’s Most Wanted.
It also contributed to 2013’s Need for Speed Rivals and more recently to severalDICEgames.
Related
EAconfirmed on Tuesday that next game in the Need for Speed serieswill be released in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The title’s release was delayed by a yearafter EA moved Criterion into a support role onBattlefield 2042.
It was recently claimed that the new Need for Speed will be released in November and that EA hasdropped plans for PS4 and Xbox One versions of the title.
The game will reportedly be set in a fictionalised version of Chicago called Lake Shore City and featurea photorealistic art style mixed with anime elements.
