Criterion Games subsumes Codemasters Cheshire, forms one Need for Speed development team

Current Need for Speed developers Criterion Games has now expanded in size, as the Codemasters Cheshire team has now been consumed by the former Burnout developers.

Part of a restructuring under Electronic Arts ownership, the Cheshire team recently created DIRT 5, following Onrush and before that, the MotorStorm and Driveclub titles under Sony stewardship.

It’s been widely discussed in recent weeks that the team has already been helping Criterion Games with the upcoming new Need for Speed game already.

“This integration builds [on] the close partnership the two studios have developed over the past few months,” highlighted a statement by Codemasters today, 12th May.

“We can confirm Criterion Games and the development team at Codemasters Cheshire are officially coming together [to] create the future of Need for Speed.”

Now there will be one permanent studio, with two location hubs – Criterion is based in Guildford – and according to gamesindustry.biz, all reporting to one lead, Matt Webster.

It was revealed earlier this week on an EA earning call that the upcoming Need for Speed game will be released between October and December of 2022. We expect to hear more about this game soon.