Matt Webster vice president And the Director general Criterion, left the studio after more than 23 years. In addition to him, four other high-profile people are leaving the studio, who have indicated their desire to “explore new possibilities outside of Electronic Arts”.
The departure of the studio heads has been confirmed by EA to GamesIndustry.biz. Their departure comes shortly after the release of Need for Speed Unbound, which was released on December 2. Webster has been with Criterion Games for over 23 years and has been with EA since 1990. He was part of the first team at EA responsible for the first FIFA game, which was in 1993 for the Mega Drive. In addition, leave Executive Producer Pete Lake, who started at Criterion in 1996 and Chief Technical Director Andrei Shires who has worked in the studio for 16 years.
Also, head of studio development Alan McDairmant is leaving EA after 17 years and Steve Uphill, who heads up Content He was leaving after a period of 6 years. Uphill worked at EA from 2004 to 2008 as Art Director He returned to the developer in 2016.
EA confirms to GamesIndustry.biz that Charity Joy, which owns Executive Producer From multiple EA Sports games, it has been ported to Criterion. This is what you play a role Executive Producer Investigation. Jeff Smith, who previously contributed racing games DiRT and Grid, is now Senior doctor For product development on the Need for Speed series. Criterion Games has been part of EA since 2004. The studio is best known for its Burnout games and has made four Need for Speed games between 2010 and 2022: Hot Pursuit, Most Wanted, Rivals, and Unbound.
