EA delays new Need for Speed, shifts Criterion to support Battlefield 6

[Astorian]

Electronic Arts will postpone the next Need for Speed game by a year and put its studio — Criterion Games — to work supporting EA DICE on the Battlefield series, which will debut on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X this fall. In an interview, EA’s top executive for studios stressed that neither franchise is in trouble, nor is Criterion being taken off its Need for Speed project.

“[Battlefield] is shaping up great, the team has been working incredibly hard, they pushed hard last year, and yes, we have been working from home,” Miele told Polygon. “And it’s hard; it’s hard to make games from home, and the [EA DICE] team is fatigued a bit.

“We have a great game and some incredible potential with this game,” Miele added. “We’re playing to win; we’re playing to put a great Battlefield game out in the market.”

EA delays new Need for Speed, shifts Criterion to support Battlefield 6

www.polygon.com

 

[LegendOfKage]

We continue to be denied a modern day Burnout due to continued mishandling of this studio. Instead we've received a horrible battle royale for arguably the worst Battlefield game ever, the support of two battlefront games that were so poorly received that EA lost their exclusive star wars license, and a bunch of time seemingly wasted on a multi vehicle racing title. A game that that either had no real direction and ultimately went nowhere, or that could have been brilliant only to see them forced to work to support EA's continued failings instead.

 

[Starfield]

EA DICE has been fatigued abit since 2015

 

[Fake]

Need for Speed + Battlefield crossover confirmed.

 

[mansoor1980]

i thought EA recently wanted their dev studios to choose the franchise to develop?

 

[smart_brazileiro]

Good. I need a MP shooter that isn't fucking Call of Duty or Apex Legends.

 

[Certinty]

Must surely mean Codemasters are making the next Need for Speed.

 

[DaleinCalgary]

We continue to be denied a modern day Burnout due to of continued mishandling of this studio.

I loved Burnout Paradise!

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

We continue to be denied a modern day Burnout due to of continued mishandling of this studio.

They keep being voted best place to work, so I'm sure they are handling themselves just fine.

 

[RPSleon]

Hope they add that crash mode in to bf6.

 

[Astorian]

i thought EA recently wanted their dev studios to choose the franchise to develop?

They probably don't want BF6 to miss this year.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Damn, gonna be 3 years till next NFS?

 

[R6Rider]

Here's hoping BF6 turns out amazing and then Criterion makes more Burnout games as well as other studios continue on the NFS series.

 

[mansoor1980]

They probably don't want to BF6 miss this year.

so codemasters are gonna make NFS i assume

 

[SlimySnake]

thats terrible. open up new support studios. or acquire existing ones to do shit like this.

support should never come at the expense of R&D.

 

[wvnative]

Was so excited to get a new Criterion game after 9 years, but I get it.

In the mean time, let's get steller entertainment to remaster both Most Wanted games

 

[LordCBH]

What an absolute waste of Criterion’s time.....

 

[[Sigma]]

An all too familiar move by EA. Codemasters, this is you in a about 5 years. Gutted and the devs that are still left working as a help squad on the big AAA games like BF. EA sucks.

 

[Schmick]

Damn, gonna be 3 years till next NFS?

Codemasters are on it?

 

[Umbasaborne]

Ugh what fucking bullshit. Its a god damn grave yard here for next gen racing games. A fucking year delay, really? What a crock of shit

 

[AJUMP23]

 

[ManaByte]

EA lost their exclusive star wars license

They didn't lose it, the 10 year deal will expire and won't be renewed. That's different than it being yanked from them.

 

[SantaC]

They probably don't want BF6 to miss this year.

Didnt they just say that BF6 is ahead of schedule?

 

[hemo memo]

I’ve lost count of how many “delayed” announcement i’ve read.

 

[oldergamer]

What the?!? I was just saying how EA is killing poor criterion and then I see this thread. It makes me sad to see this. EA are the KINGS of mismanaging companies they acquire. Criterion were on top of the world when EA bought them, everyone was using their engine for PS2 development. They had a number of hit games. Now they can't even make a single game without interference from EA? Fuck.

 

[SantaC]

What the?!? I was just saying how EA is killing poor criterion and then I see this thread. It makes me sad to see this. EA are the KINGS of mismanaging companies they acquire. Criterion were on top of the world when EA bought them, everyone was using their engine for PS2 development. They had a number of hit games. Now they can't even make a single game without interference from EA? Fuck.

Too be fair. RARE was once top of the world also. This isnt just about EA. It can happen to any studio.

Look no further than CD Projekt RED.

 

[jakinov]

We continue to be denied a modern day Burnout due to of continued mishandling of this studio. Instead we've received a horrible battle royale for arguably the worst Battlefield game ever, the support of two battlefront games that were so poorly received that EA lost their exclusive star wars license, and a bunch of time seemingly wasted on a multi vehicle racing title. A game that that either had no real direction and ultimately went nowhere, or that could have been brilliant only to see them forced to work to support EA's continued failings instead.

Probably because Burnout never sold that well to begin with. So it's either try to capitalize on trends, support the brands that have been significantly more successful or get them to work on a series that was never very commercially successful. I dunno about you but I and I would argue most other people who had money on the line and want a good ROI, would not try to make a new Burnout game.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

I'm just happy they are going to get more people in who know what the fuck they are doing in order to make a better BF game. BFV was a total train wreck.

 

[Astorian]

Didnt they just say that BF6 is ahead of schedule?

Yes, but what other reason do you do a move like this if not for wanting to hit a deadline?

 

[jaysius]

Yea, I don't know why they went with this excuse.

Criterion clearly is doing awful under EA, that first NFS they made was one of the worse cookie cutter NFSs in ages.

Getting them to help with a BF game is odd.

I'm not sure if Criterion could make another zeitgeist game, Burnout Paradise might have just been lightning in a bottle.

 

[Calverz]

We continue to be denied a modern day Burnout due to of continued mishandling of this studio. Instead we've received a horrible battle royale for arguably the worst Battlefield game ever, the support of two battlefront games that were so poorly received that EA lost their exclusive star wars license, and a bunch of time seemingly wasted on a multi vehicle racing title. A game that that either had no real direction and ultimately went nowhere, or that could have been brilliant only to see them forced to work to support EA's continued failings instead.

In all seriousness why did you think firestorm was “horrible”?

 

[SLB1904]

my reaction as well

 

[The_Mike]

thats terrible. open up new support studios. or acquire existing ones to do shit like this.

How are they gonna feed their graveyard then?

 

[SirKicksalot]

EA should remaster Underground through Carbon. Like the Master Chief Collection but for 2000s nostalgia. It would sell 100 million copies.

 

[ozz ex machina]

I'm not sure if Criterion could make another zeitgeist game, Burnout Paradise might have just been lightning in a bottle.

I mean pretty much all their games leading to Paradise were also good to fantastic. Including an FPS in Black - that was pretty damn good.

I can't imagine much of the talent from those days are still there though.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Kilo Zulu reporting, that was a sweet takedown, I repeat, that was a sweet takedown. Over.

 

[ZehDon]

That's odd - EA said BF6 was "way ahead" of schedule. If that were true, they wouldn't need to delay an entirely separate game so its developers can "support" it, because they're ahead of where they should be so have extra time up their sleeves. Fingers crossed they're not walking into another BFV.

 

[II_JumPeR_I]

Battlefield and Live Service in the same sentence. This wont end well

 

[Bernd Lauert]

panzer goes vroom vroom

 

[Gamer79]

I already have a story for the grand kids.

"4 score and 7 year ago Electronic Arts use to be a good company"

They have been shit for years. They stopped caring about Quality and just care for the buck.They buy smaller companies like criterion and ruin them. Fuck EA!

 

[Dinky]

How long before "Codemasters are developing NFS now because NFS fans don't deserve to wait that long"?

 

[Silver Wattle]

I want a modern NFS underground, with newer cars, over the 90s era cars.

 

[EDMIX]

i thought EA recently wanted their dev studios to choose the franchise to develop?

??? That doesn't mean they won't shift studios around to assist other projects.

Sony gives their studios lots of freedoms to start new series all the time, that doesn't fucking mean the WON'T have Sony Santa Monica assisting in multiple projects. I don't get gamers with this obsession with either or, like they have this idea that it must be a literal, absolute thing lol

On topic, I'm ok with this move. If Need For Speed needs more time and the team knows frostbite, I see no reason to rush Need For Speed and I understand them wanting all hands on deck for BF6 as not to leave DICE with less developers and allowing them to have time to make a proper Battlefield.

After how BF4 was rushed, I'm completely fine with it missing 2020, DICE having more help etc. I don't see how any of this can be seen as a bad thing.

 

[Varteras]

I mean I'm glad that they're focusing on the game I'm far more interested in but I wonder how they went from "the next Battlefield is way ahead of schedule" to "we pulled another studio off their game to help".

 

[mansoor1980]

??? That doesn't mean they won't shift studios around to assist other projects.

Sony gives their studios lots of freedoms to start new series all the time, that doesn't fucking mean the WON'T have Sony Santa Monica assisting in multiple projects. I don't get gamers with this obsession with either or, like they have this idea that it must be a literal, absolute thing lol

On topic, I'm ok with this move. If Need For Speed needs more time and the team knows frostbite, I see no reason to rush Need For Speed and I understand them wanting all hands on deck for BF6 as not to leave DICE with less developers and allowing them to have time to make a proper Battlefield.

After how BF4 was rushed, I'm completely fine with it missing 2020, DICE having more help etc. I don't see how any of this can be seen as a bad thing.

ok mr EA

 

[EDMIX]

ok mr EA

Ok mr either orz lol

My example used is even of Sony, no major publisher to my understand gives some absolute freedom where they won't even shift around teams to assist in other projects or something. Freedom to create doesn't mean they have no bosses or managers or its a free for all and no fucks are given or anything weird like that.

Make it make sense.

Varteras BF6 might still be ahead of schedule and they want to keep it that way and make it better by having another team help out. I don't think every move that happens is some reactionary thing. I think the other half of DICE is likely working on Battlefront 3 and EA is likely listening to the criticisms regarding DICE needing the extra time, man power etc. Over the years they've been that way.

BF4 rushed, DICE needs more time.

BFHardline delayed and done by Visceral

BF1 releases on time, but folks complained about all the DLC

BFV has free dlc etc (yet they still had them make it in 18 months)

From what I've seen over the years, they correct certain issues and DICE needing more help might be one of the issues thats being addressed here. For all we know EA plans to have them work on BF going forward and that buyout they made to Codemasters was to have them work on NFS. Who knows.

 

[mansoor1980]

Ok mr either orz lol

My example used is even of Sony, no major publisher to my understand gives some absolute freedom where they won't even shift around teams to assist in other projects or something. Freedom to create doesn't mean they have no bosses or managers or its a free for all and no fucks are given or anything weird like that.

Make it make sense.

yo i aint hatin on EA , got ur point

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

Lmao first BF6 is ahead of schedule and now your delaying another studios game to come and help develop it. This company is so full of shit.

 

[GHG]

What an absolute waste of Criterion’s time.....

I think that's the point.

They are about to get binned off since codemasters makes their existence unnecessary.

 

[Halo is Dead]

Good decision