It’s Officially The End Of The Road For Need for Speed And Burnout

Criterion Games just officially confirmed the total shutdown of all Need for Speed and Burnout development at the studio. The British developer now focuses 100 % on the Battlefield franchise from Electronic Arts going forward. Rebecka Coutaz, VP and GM of Battlefield Studios Europe, dropped the news with a phrase that hits like a sentence. « We are solely focused on Battlefield » she told the folks at IGN during the interview. The studio also updated its logo to officially display « Criterion: A Battlefield Studio » across its website.

Criterion Games carries a massive racing legacy that will hit its 30-year anniversary in early 2026. The British studio was scooped up by Electronic Arts back in 2004 for 68 million dollars. This acquisition happened right after the massive commercial success of Burnout 3: Takedown. The team then inherited the Need for Speed series with NFS Hot Pursuit in 2010. The studio directly led the franchise all the way to Need for Speed Unbound in 2022. The last proper Burnout entry goes back to Burnout Paradise in 2008, meaning fans have waited over 18 years without a new mainline release.

The strategic pivot of Criterion toward Battlefield didn’t happen overnight and rolled out across several key stages. Electronic Arts first spun up the Battlefield Studios division in February 2025 by bundling DICE, Criterion Games, Ripple Effect and EA Motive. A new Need for Speed project after Unbound had actually kicked off at the studio before getting brutally canceled. Criterion was reassigned in emergency mode to save Battlefield 6 after Ridgeline Games ran into major development trouble. The original plans for Criterion to swing back to Need for Speed right after Battlefield 6 are now officially dead in the water.

The success of the Need for Speed franchise hit absolutely stratospheric heights in the mid-2000s thanks to the Canadian studio Black Box. Need for Speed Underground dropped in 2003 and moved over 15 million units while completely reshaping mainstream racing games. This street racing formula got pushed to its peak with Most Wanted in 2005 and then Carbon in 2006. These 4 cult entries from the Black Box era still represent the absolute golden age of the series for die-hard fans.

The insane release pace then flipped against the franchise starting in 2007. Electronic Arts pushed out 10 games in 7 years across 5 different studios until the market got completely saturated. Need for Speed The Run launched in 2011 and marked the first major commercial flop at only 3 million units sold. Electronic Arts had forced the Frostbite engine from Battlefield on Black Box for this disaster of a game. A bitter irony hits hard when you realize this same engine now totally monopolizes Criterion for the rival franchise. Black Box shut down permanently shortly after this failed release.

The series never bounced back to its 2000s peak despite several ambitious reboot attempts. Ghost Games picked up the franchise with a Need for Speed reboot in 2015 that only pulled in 3.5 million players globally. Need for Speed Heat dropped in 2019 and managed a symbolic bounce back to 5 million sales before Ghost Games got shut down for good. Criterion inherited the license to develop Need for Speed Unbound in 2022. The title got solid critical reception but landed as a commercial disappointment at only 1.5 million units sold. The vertigo-inducing crash was already sealed when Electronic Arts confirmed the studio’s Battlefield-only pivot.

Electronic Arts just officially abandoned the entire mainstream arcade racing segment to its historic rivals in one bold move. Forza Horizon 5 developed by Playground Games now sits at the absolute top with over 53 million cumulative players. Gran Turismo 7 built by Polyphony Digital reigns supreme over the simulation space with over 11 million units moved on PlayStation. The Crew Motorfest shipped by Ivory Tower for Ubisoft rounds out the dominant trio with a solid 8 million sales. Playground Games is also gearing up to drop Forza Horizon 6 in 2026 to lock in its grip on the genre even harder.

Electronic Arts still keeps the Codemasters studio under its racing wing with an exclusive focus on the F1 simulation franchise. No arcade or mainstream project is anywhere in the pipeline at the publisher to fill the massive void left by Need for Speed and Burnout. Longtime fans of both iconic series now have zero choice but to jump ship to the competition to scratch that racing itch. The future of the Need for Speed and Burnout IPs remains completely up in the air. EA’s total strategic silence hints at zero plans for an imminent return of either franchise.