Criterion Leaving a Brilliant Game Behind for Star Wars

I can’t help but feel like EA has bullied Criterion into doing this, but I know that’s not likely.

Criterion knows how to make incredible racing games. I don’t even buy racing games and Burnout Paradise is still one of my all-time favorite games. High speed, beautiful (car) models, tons of customization, and crashes man! The crashes are always the best part; chaos and mayhem are their specialties. This is why we were so excited to hear during 2014’s E3 that they were working on a bizarre, open-world action game with tons of different vehicles. Cars, ATVs, helicopters, jet skis, wingsuits… this game was going to have it all, and it sounded incredible. At the end of the announcement trailer a Criterion dev said that it was going to be the biggest game they ever made. Unfortunately you and I will never get to play that game.

It seems the team has moved on to help EA try to make Star Wars Battlefront better. In this writer’s opinion, that’s a bloody waste of time and top-notch talent. Then again, I’m not writing the checks. In a statement to Eurogamer this is what the EA spokesperson had to say: “While Criterion has moved on from the previous project they’ve spoken about and aren’t pursuing it specifically, they are continuing to build new ideas and experiment with new IP for EA.” Well I don’t know about any new IP, but we do know that Criterion is helping with the Star Wars Battlefront VR experience, so there’s that. I would have rather played their massive, open-world, vehicular action game. Thanks, EA. Thanks a lot.