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Criterion co-founders leave EA to form new studio
Vice president Alex Ward and studio director Fiona Sperry have both left Criterion Games, a development house best known for the Burnout series of arcade-style racing games. "Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry have decided to leave EA," a spokesperson for the publisher told Polygon. "We appreciate their many contributions through the years and wish them well in their future endeavours." These departures come less than four months after Criterion was hit by downsizing, an EA decision that moved many Criterion employees to UK-based Need for Speed: Rivals developer Ghost Games. Following this forced exodus, Criterion was reportedly down to "about 20" employees, though EA claims that the developer remains hard at work on a new, as yet unannounced project aimed at next-generation consoles. "The incredibly creative and talented team at Criterion are hard at work on a new project for next-gen consoles as new IP continues to be a major priority across EA," the publisher stated. Following his announcement, Ward took to Twitter, saying, "The news breaks. Along with @FionaSperry I have left @CriterionGames. Welcome to the REAL #tothefuture." In a later tweet Ward explains that he and Sperry plan to create a new development studio, though further details on their plans have yet to appear. This marks the second time in as many days that we've received word of a shakeup at one of EA's development studios. Only yesterday we learned that PopCap Games CEO David Roberts would be departing the company, and that John Vechey, the sole PopCap founder remaining at the studio's Seattle headquarters, would assume the role. Edit: The original version of the above article included a sentence stating that Matt Webster is a senior vice president at EA, when in fact he is only leading the development of Criterion's next project. We apologize for any confusion.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 'four times bigger than Burnout Paradise'
The EA blog had a chat with Criterion's Matt Webster the other day, and he says that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit will be about 'four times bigger' than Criterion's last big racing hit, Burnout Paradise. There are a few reasons for that. First and foremost, Criterion wanted the cars going upwards of 250 miles per hour, so more speed means more room needed. There will also be more elevation in the levels, as well as more space to do things like hide your car in the bushes and find off-road shortcuts. Webster says there are over 100 miles of tarmac, and lots of other space to explore as well. He also talks about the game's "Autolog" system, which will allow for ghost competitions between players, and what he's calling the "Speed Wall," a set of leaderboards which shows how close you are to overtaking your friends, even if they're not online. And finally, Webster says that Criterion has been hard at work replicating real cars for the game -- they had to fine tune the wheels of a McLaren out 2 mm just to get it to hit the right top speed in-game. Sounds like the game is coming along well -- it's scheduled to hit the lights and punch it this November.
