Expanding to other genres (2014–2023)
On 3 January 2014, it was announced that Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry left Criterion to found a new studio,[18] Three Fields Entertainment. Their first game Dangerous Golf, slated for release in May 2016, combined ideas from Burnout and Black and is to lead them through a spiritual successor to Burnout.[19] At the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014, the company announced a new racing project. However, the project was cancelled as Criterion is now focusing on providing additional support to other EA studios in creating future Star Wars games. Criterion worked on Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission, a new virtual reality mission for Star Wars Battlefront;[20] the company would return to do additional work for the 2017 sequel.[21]
In June 2015, news site Nintendo Life revealed that in early 2011 Nintendo of Europe approached Criterion to work on a pitch for a new F-Zero game which it hoped to unveil at E3 that same year alongside the then-unreleased Wii U console, and potentially release the game during the console's launch period. However, the developer was unable to handle the pitch as, at the time, it devoted much of its resources into the development of Need for Speed: Most Wanted for multiple platforms. The site was tipped by an anonymous, yet "reliable" source, but they had confirmed this information when Criterion co-founder Alex Ward (who left the company in 2014) admitted that Nintendo of Europe did indeed approach the company for a potential F-Zero game on the Wii U.[22] Alex Ward also noted on Twitter that Criterion was also offered the opportunity to work on the first Forza, Mad Max, a Vauxhall only racer, a Command & Conquer first-person shooter and a Gone in 60 Seconds game.[23]
In 2018, EA announced that Battlefield V would have a battle royale mode and would be developed by Criterion.[24] Following the release of the mode (later revealed to be called Firestorm), development was halted soon after with the mode considered a failure by fans. In 2020, Criterion was announced to return as the main developer of the Need for Speed series,[25] but work on the title was put on hold as Criterion was assigned to do additional work, including vehicular gameplay, on the next Battlefield game in March 2021.[26] The aforementioned game, Battlefield 2042, was released on 19 November 2021.
In May 2022, EA merged Codemasters subsidiary Codemasters Cheshire (the successor studio of Evolution Studios) into Criterion Games to support efforts on the Need for Speed series as the two companies were already working together on a new title in the series for months.[27] On 6 October 2022, the project was revealed to be Need for Speed Unbound, which utilises DICE's proprietary Frostbite engine. Unbound was released on 2 December 2022, following which five senior members of Criterion announced their departures from the studio, including the current studio GM, Matt Webster.[28] They created Fuse Games in 2023 [29]
