Criterion Games

Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford, Surrey, founded in 1996 and acquired by Electronic Arts in 2004. The studio built its reputation on the Burnout series, arcade racing games built around high-speed crashes and aggressive driving that defined the genre for a generation. After Burnout, Criterion took over the Need for Speed franchise and has been its primary developer since 2010, most recently with Need for Speed Unbound in 2022. Between major racing releases the studio contributed to EA’s Battlefield development pipeline.

The Burnout Series

Burnout launched in 2001 and established Criterion’s identity: a racing game where causing spectacular crashes was as central as winning races. The series escalated with each entry. Burnout 3: Takedown in 2004 is frequently cited as the peak, adding Crash mode as a dedicated game type where players drove into traffic intersections to cause the largest possible pile-up, and adding an online multiplayer component that was advanced for its time. It sold over four million copies and won multiple awards. Burnout Revenge in 2005 added traffic checking, letting players use other cars as weapons. Burnout Paradise in 2008 moved the series to an open world for the first time, set in Paradise City, and was the first game to receive substantial free post-launch content through regular updates, a model that influenced how the industry thought about live service games before that term existed. Burnout Paradise Remastered released in 2018 and 2019 across multiple platforms.

Need for Speed

Criterion took over the Need for Speed franchise with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit in 2010, a reboot of the Hot Pursuit concept from the series’ earlier years that focused on police chases and was well received. Need for Speed: Most Wanted followed in 2012, a reimagining of the 2005 fan favourite that moved to an open world Burnout Paradise-style structure with Autolog social comparison features. After Most Wanted, Criterion stepped back from Need for Speed lead development while other EA studios took the franchise, before returning as lead developer for Need for Speed Unbound in December 2022. Unbound received positive reviews for its cel-shaded visual style and street racing tone, a distinct look that separated it from the more realistic direction the series had taken under other studios.

Battlefield and EA Support Work

Between Need for Speed releases, Criterion contributed to EA’s Battlefield franchise as a support studio. The team worked on Battlefield 2042 and contributed to other projects within EA’s first-party development network. This support work kept the studio active during gaps between its own lead titles and positioned it within EA’s broader development infrastructure.

RenderWare

Worth noting as part of Criterion’s legacy: the studio developed RenderWare, a game engine and middleware product that was used across hundreds of games in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas all ran on RenderWare. When EA acquired Criterion in 2004, it also acquired RenderWare, and subsequently shut down licensing to external developers, which was controversial at the time. The engine’s influence on the PS2 generation of games is significant even if it is not the work Criterion is best remembered for.