As a reminder, Criterion Games has recovered the keys to the Need for Speed franchise which the Ghost Games studio has been in charge of since 2015. Best known initially for the Burnout franchise, Criterion Games is therefore strengthening itself by becoming one with the Cheshire Codemasters team. This was formed in 2016 on the ashes of Evolution Studios (MotorStorm, Driveclub) and had produced the confidential Onrush.
This restructuring, which is not accompanied by any layoffs, does not change the future of the main Codemasters games, in particular the F1 games developed by Codemasters Birmingham. The future already seems more vague on the side of DiRT, whose Codemasters Cheshire had developed DiRT 5. Notable detail, Codemasters will be responsible for WRC games from 2023, which could quite logically lead to the shelving of DiRT and DiRT Rally.
As a reminder, Electronic Arts had acquired the Codemasters group last year for the sum of 1.2 billion dollars. The release of the next Need for Speed, which has not yet been revealed, is expected between October and December 2022.
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