Criterion won't rule out Need for Speed return, but Battlefield is the only game in town

Criterion – the studio behind Burnout and several Need for Speed entries – was officially rebranded last week as Criterion: A Battlefield Studio, marking its 30th anniversary and cementing its role as one of four studios backing EA's renewed Battlefield push. At the Develop Conference in Brighton, senior producer Danny Isaac and Director of Operations Amy Pejic addressed what that means for everything outside Battlefield.

On the creativity question, Isaac acknowledged the narrower scope but pushed back on the idea that it kills creative freedom. "Give me the freedom of a tightly constrained brief," he said, pointing to Battlefield's expanding platform – Portal, user-generated content, multiplayer, singleplayer campaign, and newer modes like RedSEC and battle royale – as genuine room to manoeuvre. Pejic echoed that, arguing consistency across EA's four studios doesn't mean conformity: "It hasn't muted what makes Criterion 'Criterion'." As for Burnout, Isaac was blunt – that one's been shelved for a while. Need for Speed got a softer answer: "Never say never. Things change. EA changed. But we're on Battlefield."

Criterion has been part of the Battlefield ecosystem since 2015, contributing to Battlefield 1 and subsequent entries, so the rebranding formalises a relationship that's been building for nearly a decade. The studio's racing DNA – Burnout's destruction physics, the handling feel it brought to Need for Speed – made it a natural fit for Battlefield's vehicle and multiplayer systems. Whether that expertise gets a standalone outlet again depends entirely on how EA's priorities shift.

The answers were diplomatic enough to leave every door technically open, but the practical reality is that Criterion's output is Battlefield for the foreseeable future. Fans hoping for a new Burnout will need to keep waiting – and probably shouldn't hold their breath.