However, this pushed Burnout onto the back burner, and no new Burnout games have been released since 2011.Ĭriterion itself confirmed it was moving away from racing games in 2013, and since then the developer cut its staff and has instead been assisting with work on the likes of Battlefield: Hardline and Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Criterion was also handed the development of Need for Speed, and the studio had great success with the property. At this point, Criterion had released the first two Burnout games, gaining itself the status as a top tier racing game developer.ĮA would push further Burnout games out of Criterion, with the open world classic Burnout Paradise a particular standout, alongside some other titles such as shooter Black. Back in 2004, the publisher bought out Criterion games, the developer of the acclaimed Burnout series. BurnoutĪlthough Need for Speed is the central racing franchise under EA's control (ignoring the mobile Real Racing series), it was not always the case. Given how poor the new Battlefront games have been, perhaps that initial restructure was misplaced.
The developer of the original Battlefront titles, Pandemic Studios, was bought out by EA back in 2008 as part of its acquisition of BioWare, but Pandemic itself was closed down late in 2009. To make matters worse, EA once had the perfect studio to develop Star Wars: Battlefront games in its lineup. Related: Star Wars: Battlefront 2 Is Just So Damn Disappointing The sequel certainly had more content, but EA's reliance on a loot box-focused business model effectively ruined the game's progression system, destroying any potential that the game had and damaging EA's stock price in the process. The first of the DICE-developed Battlefront games was extremely light on content at launch, with barely anything from a single player perspective and a real scarcity of maps for players wanting a deep Star Wars experience. One of the most well-remembered Star Wars video game properties, the new releases have little in common with the original two games. While the closure of Visceral Games has put a dampener on players excited about a single player Star Wars adventure game, perhaps the biggest disappointment has been the publisher's treatment of the Star Wars: Battlefront series. Since EA gained the Star Wars license, the results have been a little bit underwhelming to say the least.