Burnout

Burnout is an arcade racing franchise developed by Criterion Games and published initially by Acclaim Entertainment and later by Electronic Arts, running from 2001 through the last mainline entry Burnout Paradise in 2008. The franchise built its identity around aggressive, collision-focused racing where causing crashes was as mechanically rewarded as finishing first, and its Crash Mode, which challenged players to engineer spectacular pile-ups at intersections, was among the most original scoring mechanics in racing games of its era. Burnout 3: Takedown in 2004 is frequently cited as the peak of the series and one of the finest arcade racing games ever made. No new Burnout game has been released since 2011, and Criterion has moved its development focus to Battlefield.

Burnout and Burnout 2: The Acclaim Years

Criterion Games, based in Guildford, England, developed Burnout as a response to the simulation racing games dominating the genre in 2001, built around the premise that the rush of near-miss driving and spectacular crashes was the part of the racing experience worth amplifying rather than eliminating. Burnout released in November 2001 for PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, published by Acclaim Entertainment. Burnout 2: Point of Impact followed in 2002, refining the crash mechanics and adding a Crash mode as a dedicated game type alongside the standard racing. Both games built a growing audience for Criterion’s aggressive design philosophy before Electronic Arts acquired Criterion in 2004.

Burnout 3: Takedown and the EA Era

Burnout 3: Takedown released September 7, 2004, as the first Burnout under EA’s publishing, and is the entry most consistently named as the series’ best and one of the finest racing games ever released. The game introduced Takedowns as the central offensive mechanic, rewarding players for ramming opponents into barriers, traffic, and walls, with the resulting crash replenishing a boost meter that made speed and aggression self-reinforcing. The soundtrack, licensed from punk, rock, and alternative artists of the era, became as associated with the game as the mechanics themselves. Burnout Revenge followed in September 2005 with a modified traffic collision system that allowed players to use oncoming traffic as weapons. Burnout Dominator in March 2007 returned to an earlier design philosophy and was developed primarily by a separate EA team rather than Criterion’s core group.

Burnout Paradise and the Open World Pivot

Burnout Paradise released January 22, 2008, as a complete reimagining of the franchise around an open world city called Paradise City where all racing, takedown, and stunt events coexisted in a seamlessly connected environment. Series director Alex Ward had to advocate within EA for the open world concept against institutional preference for the established structure. The game received strong critical reception and a substantial post-launch update schedule that added new vehicles, modes, and eventually the Big Surf Island expansion. Paradise remains the most commercially active Burnout game through its Remastered version, which released March 16, 2018, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with 4K support and all original DLC included. Burnout Crash!, a top-down downloadable arcade game, released in 2011 as the franchise’s final entry.

What Happened to Burnout

Following Burnout Paradise, Criterion moved to developing the Need for Speed series for EA, releasing Hot Pursuit in 2010 and Most Wanted in 2012 before the studio transitioned again to support Battlefield development. Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry, two of the founding Criterion figures most associated with Burnout’s design identity, left the studio in 2014 and founded Three Fields Entertainment, which released Dangerous Driving in 2019 as a spiritual successor to the early Burnout design philosophy. EA still owns the Burnout intellectual property. With Criterion now focused on Battlefield and Three Fields developing its own racing projects, the path to a new official Burnout entry has no clear development home as of mid-2026.