With an official statement Zampella wins welcomed Criterion Games to the ranks of EA Entertainment, which together with EA Sports represents one of the two divisions into which Electronic Arts split earlier this summer. At the same time, he also revealed the projects to which the development studio in Guildford, England will be dedicated.
Vince Zampella, designated curator of the Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, Battlefield and Need For Speed franchises, has announced the move of Criterion Games from EA Sports to EA Entertainment. The English studio will participate in the development of the next Battlefield and will continue to deal with the Need for franchise Speed, for which a new chapter is in the works. A double task that shouldn’t be too difficult for the Burnout development studio, since it has already worked on the previous episodes of both series.
As for the next Battlefield, Criterion is joining the numerous studios already working on it, including DICE, Ripple Effect and Ridgeline, the enormous deployment of forces coordinated by Byron Beede, General Manager of the franchise. At present the four studios are collaborating in the pre-production of a shared Battlefield Universe. The new commitment will not distract Criterion from supporting Battlefield 2042, which will continue uninterrupted for the foreseeable future.
Criterion will continue to work on the franchise Need for Speed developing a new episode of the series, as rumors had already revealed last July. Vince Zampella is actively contributing to the creation of this new chapter, which will have the task of bringing back into vogue a franchise that for too many years has not managed to really break through: the recent Need for Speed Unbound did not fully convince us.
The other studio specializing in racing games, Codemasters, will continue to operate for EA Sports, under whose label EA Sports WRC and the next iteration of the official Formula 1 video game will be published.
