Criterion Games Splits Into Two Studios As EA-owned Codemasters Cheshire Gets Absorbed By The Developer

While discussions on acquisitions continue to circulate around Sony Interactive Entertainment for Bungie & Microsoft purchasing Activision Blizzard, many glazed over the $1 billion deal from Electronic Arts last year. A money-throwing competition between the firm and Take-Two before the Rockstar Games parent company stepped down for developer Codemasters.

Following the arrangement of the firm’s acquisition, Electronic Arts did interject that the publisher’s plans is for Codemasters to retain the identity of the game studio rather than getting involved in development; comparing the deal to the handling of Respawn Entertainment. We later witnessed a slew of titles from the developer being added to the EA Play list which carries over Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as well.

In a new statement from Codemasters on Twitter, its Cheshire division in England is now being converted into a second studio for Criterion Games. The arrangement is said to better the work underway for the Need for Speed franchise moving forward.

“This integration builds off the close partnership the two studios have developed over the past few months. Sharing common values and similar cultures, we strongly believe unifying the huge wealth of expertise across both teams will help us to deliver the best racing experiences we can for our players,” the developer added in the thread following the initial tweet.

As part of the playbook for Electronic Arts quarterly releases, Need for Speed is mentioned to be part of the itinerary. Additionally, one of the titles phrased as a ‘Remake’ was later pronounced to be the Dead Space remake from EA Motive which is to launch on January 27th. You can read the full report by heading here.

Are you excited for the future of Need for Speed?