EA Combines Codemasters Cheshire into Need For Speed Developer Criterion

EA has integrated the development team of Codemasters Cheshire into Criterion Games, gamesindustry.biz reports.

EA acquired racing game specialist Codemasters last year for $1.2 billion, and has since released GRID Legends, and will soon launch F1 22. Now, Codemasters' Cheshire-based studio is being combined into Criterion Games, who EA acquired way back in 2004. No redundancies have been made, and the combined studio will be working on the future of the Need For Speed series.

“This integration builds off the close partnership the two studios have developed over the past few months,” said an EA spokesperson.

“Sharing common values and similar cultures, we strongly believe unifying the huge wealth of experience across both teams will help us to deliver the best racing experiences we can for our players.”

Codemasters Cheshire was formerly known as Evolution Studios, and was known for the excellent MotorStorm games on PlayStation 3, as well as PlayStation 4 exclusive Driveclub. Criterion is best known for its work on the Burnout series, although recent years had seen EA shift the studio towards support work on shooters like Battlefield and Star Wars Battlefront. Luckily, it seems Criterion is going back to what it does best, with a new Need For Speed game reportedly set to release this November.