New Need For Speed ​​Game Development Suspended

Work on the new Need For Speed ​​title has been temporarily halted. The British division of Electronic Arts’ responsible development studio Ghost Games has been made redundant. The studio’s Swedish branch, formerly known as EA Gothenburg, has not been affected.

The Need For Speed ​​franchise may now be in the hands of the Swedish branch of Ghost Games, but that is not certain yet. In any case, work on Ghost Games’ unannounced Need For Speed ​​title has been suspended for the time being. Various sources report this to game site Polygon.

Ghost Games UK as a studio is the spiritual successor to Criterion Games, which in the course of its 21-year existence has become best known for the Burnout games. In September 2013, approximately fifty people from the development team at Criterion moved to the Ghost Games facility in Guildford, England. So many people who are now in danger of losing their jobs are originally Criterion Games developers.

Ghost Games UK employees will still be offered an alternative to dismissal with compensation. They can also support Dead Space developer Visceral Entertainment in the development of a new Battlefield title. All that is known about that game is its code name, Havana, and that it will not be about military conflicts, but about police operations. It is unknown how many of the employees will accept this offer.

Just months after Criterion’s staff migration to Ghost Games, news broke that Criterion Games founders Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry were leaving the studio to “start over with a clean slate and start a new studio.” reported Ward on Twitter. It is unknown what the remaining part of Criterion Games is currently working on.