The baton for the Need For Speed series has been handed off to Ghost Games, however Criterion hasn't walked away from the racing franchise entirely. Between 60 and 65 Criterion coders and artists are said to be working on Need For Speed: Rivals, which comprises roughly 40 to 45 percent of the project's total staff.
Criterion's Craig Sullivan, former creative director for last year's Hot Pursuit and NFS: Most Wanted, told VideoGamer that while Rivals is being creatively run by Ghost, "There's a lot of Criterion DNA in here." Criterion is best known for the Burnout series, though I noticed a distinct lack of Burnout-like crashes when I went hands-on with Rivals at E3.
As for Criterion VP Alex Ward, Sullivan indicates that he's working on "special, secret Criterion stuff."
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