What but happened? EA has decided to put its next Need for Speed game on the dorsum burner to focus on Battlefield half-dozen. Criterion Games, who'd been working on a next-gen NFS experience, have now been reassigned to assist DICE with developing the upcoming Battlefield game that'south set to release later this holiday season.

Criterion Games quickly got to work on remastering 2022'south Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit afterward existence put in accuse of the racing franchise last year. The studio's side by side-gen vision for the series would have come to fruition in 2022, just it'south now been tasked past EA to help Die in finishing off the upcoming Battleground game.

Although development on the commencement-person shooter was tracking ahead of 'internal milestones,' as EA CEO, Andrew Wilson, told investors last month, the decision to bring over Benchmark resources to prioritize Battlefield 6 comes in the wake of challenging working weather imposed past the ongoing pandemic and the fact that EA's $1.2 billion Codemasters acquisition will keep at least i racing game in the pipeline this yr.

"[Battlefield] is shaping up great, the team has been working incredibly hard, they pushed hard final year, and yes, we have been working from abode," said Laura Miele, EA's chief studio officer, in an interview with Polygon. "And it'southward difficult; it's hard to make games from habitation, and the [EA Die] team is fatigued a fleck," she added.

EA also knows that the next Battleground needs to evangelize something special following the underwhelming performance of 2022'south Battleground Five. While there have been rumors of a Battlefield 3 and iv-like mod-day setting making a render, EA has teased immersive battles on maps with an unprecedented scale and next-gen devastation that could run across up to 128 players in a friction match.

A total reveal has been planned for Spring, so Battlefield fans won't have to wait much longer. Meanwhile, those looking to get their fill of the next-gen Need for Speed volition have to expect until Criterion tin can render to the driving seat for a 2022 release.