As the arcade racing video game genre is absolutely flying, EA, it seems, wants no part in it any longer. At least that’s how it appears if you read between the lines of a recent report from IGN at the studio responsible for much of the series, Criterion.
UK-based Criterion is hitting a big milestone: its 30th birthday. While it hasn’t just been responsible for Need for Speed over the years, racing is responsible for some of its biggest hits. Lest we also forget the monumentally fun Burnout series.
But as Criterion celebrates its birthday, there’s a stark reminder that the future for these two beloved franchises looks as non-existent as it could be. It’s now “Criterion: A Battlefield Studio.”
When I ask whether the Burnout and Need For Speed developer’s newly established scope might include projects other than Battlefield, Coutaz is clear: “We are solely focused on Battlefield.”
Phil Iwaniuk, IGN
This is such a boneheaded move, but then, this is also EA we’re talking about. Thanks in large part to XBOX’s Forza Horizon franchise, the thirst for arcade racers has never been higher.
Ubisoft’s The Crew is on its third outing, with Motorfest still going strong and getting plenty of fresh content. Forza Horizon 6 has just arrived on the scene and will continue to draw players for years to come. Ex-Playground Games wizards went off and did their own thing and are due to drop Clutch in 2027.
Whether you think the most recent Need for Speed games were any good or not isn’t the point. EA is a steward to one of the most famous brands in the space and seems content to leave it on the shelf.
I’m pretty mad, which doesn’t usually take much doing from EA these days. I wasn’t thrilled when the company gobbled up another British studio making racing games, Codemasters, which had itself previously acquired Project Cars maker Slightly Mad Studios.
EA has under its ownership the F1 franchise, Dirt’s library of rally games alongside EA WRC, Need for Speed, Burnout, Project Cars, and Grid. Right now, only one of those is alive.
Development on any future rally titles is on hold; Project Cars is dead; Grid is soon to be dead, with the servers on Grid Legends being shut off later this year. Burnout hasn’t seen any life since 2018, and now the studio that has most recently been looking after Need for Speed is all-in on Battlefield.
F1 25 is all that really remains with its live service platform in tow. All that greatness in the locker, and EA is chasing a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow it will never reach.
Battlefield 6 is fine; I don’t really enjoy it, but it’s doing well, and it’s a perfectly good game. But I feel like EA is sacrificing some much-loved franchises to help chase that Call of Duty money. Which just isn’t going to happen.
Everything has to be live service from the biggest publishers with the biggest budgets these days, and that’s fine, too. It’s not going away, so we may as well accept it. But Forza Horizon 6 and The Crew Motorfest are living proof that the model works for arcade racers and that generally we’re happy and enjoying it.
PlayStation players jumped on Forza Horizon 5 in massive numbers. A game that was, at the time, four years old. The newest one is flying on Xbox and PC right now, and we’re looking forward to Clutch. But I don’t understand why Need for Speed, especially, has been put on the shelf.
In the golden age of The Fast and the Furious, Need for Speed: Underground arrived, and it was all my friend group was talking about. My 180mph orange Corsa packed with a ludicrous body kit and neon lights was just pure joy. EA could do anything with this franchise.
We are lucky that there are still studios out there making amazing games we can enjoy, but all of this is just another notch on the belt of ongoing disappointment I’m feeling with gaming as a whole of late.
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