Criterion Co-Founders Leave Studio To Start Their Own

"Need For Speed" is now in the hands of "Rivals" dev Ghost Games.

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Criterion Games' co-founders Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry have left the studio long known for Burnout and (more recently) Need For Speed to start their own company, reports Polygon. The news comes after oversight of the NFS franchise was handed over last August to the newly formed Ghost Games, developer of the cross-generational PS4/Xbox One launch title Need For Speed: Rivals.

Following an official announcement from EA this week stating that Criterion is working on a new unannounced IP under the guidance of studio lead Matt Webster, Ward tweeted that it was time to "start afresh" by starting a new company with Sperry.

Ward previously tweeted that around 65 people moved over to Ghost Games from Criterion last September, leaving the former standard-bearers of EA's console racing franchises at about one-fourth their staff size. With Ghost handling Need For Speed, it remains to be seen what both Criterion and Ward and Sperry's new studio could be working on.

Read the full story via the link below.

Via Polygon
 

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