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Criterion Games is a Guildford, England based video game developer. It is best known for its work on the Burnout series, Black video games, the Need for Speed series, and the RenderWare middleware game engine.

History[]

Criterion Software Ltd. was created to commercialize 3D graphics rendering technology created by Canon's European Research Lab, having two co-founders both employed by Canon.

Criterion Software became a game development studio known for the development of the RenderWare family of middleware technology including graphics, AI, audio, and physics components.

RenderWare was used in such games as Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Crackdown, and Crackdown 2.

In August 2004, Electronic Arts announced that their acquisition of Criterion Games from Acclaim Entertainment for a rumored £40 million, if taking into account the purchase price and existing debt. After the purchase both Criterion and EA declared that RenderWare would continue to be made available to third party customers, but some clients decided it was too risky to rely on technology owned by a competitor. EA has since withdrawn RenderWare from the commercial middleware market although EA do honour previous contracts for third party use of the middleware engine.

Criterion decided to close their Derby satellite office in the summer of 2006, and made all of their programmers and support staff redundant. In early March 2007, EA moved Criterion from their Bury Fields Studio to a new building in Central Guildford, thus creating a single UK studio that at its height had approximately 500 full-time developers.

Criterion announced their first game in the Need for Speed franchise with Hot Pursuit at E3 2010 on June 14, 2010. The game was released on November 16, 2010 in the USA, November 18, 2010 in Australasia, and November 19, 2010 in the EU for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Once again, Criterion introduced another entry in the Need for Speed series with their reimaginning of Most Wanted.

On June 27, 2012, Criterion Games was given control of the Need for Speed series alongside the Burnout series.[1]

On January 3, 2014, Vice President and Creative Director of Criterion Games; Alex Ward, and Studio Director Fiona Sperry both left Criterion Games.[2] They later announced their new studio on March 3, 2014 called Three Fields Entertainment[3], and their first game, Dangerous Golf, released on June 4, 2016.[4]

On August 18, 2016, numerous tweets sent out by the official Criterion Games twitter feed that they were not actively working on a new entry in the Burnout series.[5]

On November 22, 2016, the Xbox 360 releases of Burnout Paradise and Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box were made playable on the Xbox One through backwards compatibility.

Released Games[]

Game Published
Scorched Attack
Windows
1996
Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Inc.
Speedboat Attack
Windows
1997
Telstar Electronic Studios Ltd.
Sub Culture
Windows
1997
Ubisoft Entertainment Software
Redline Racer
Dreamcast, Windows
1998
Ubisoft Entertainment Software
Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing
Dreamcast, Windows
1999
Ubisoft Entertainment Software
Trickstyle
Dreamcast, Windows
1999
Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
Deep Fighter
Dreamcast, Windows
2000
Ubisoft Entertainment Software
Burnout
Gamecube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
2001
Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
AirBlade
PlayStation 2
2002
Namco Hometek Inc.
Burnout 2: Point of Impact
Gamecube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
2002
Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
Burnout 3: Takedown
PlayStation 2, Xbox
2004
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Burnout: Legends
PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS
2005
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Burnout Revenge
PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360
2005
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Black'
PlayStation 2, Xbox
2006
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Burnout Paradise
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One
2008
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows
2009
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows
2010
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Burnout CRASH!
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iOS
2011
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)
PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Wii U, Windows
2012
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Need for Speed: Rivals
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows
2013
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Battlefield Hardline
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows
2015
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Need for Speed (2015)
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows
2015
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Star Wars Battlefront: Rogue One: X-wing VR Mission
PlayStation VR
2016
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Star Wars Battlefront II (Starfighter Assault mode only)
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows
2017
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Burnout Paradise Remastered
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows
2018
Electronic Arts, Inc.

References[]

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External links[]

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