Criterion Games is a video game developer situated in Guildford, England. It was founded in 1996 as a division of Criterion Software (founded in 1993) to develop games that could showcase the RenderWare engine, used in titles like the sixth-generation Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and their own Burnout series. Their claims to fame are Racing Games that are intense and exciting, like Burnout (natch) and Need for Speed.
They are a subsidiary of Electronic Arts since August 2004. On 12 May 2022, EA announced that Codemasters' Cheshire studio, formed from the remnants of MotorStorm developer Evolution Studios, has merged into Criterion since both studios were already working together on Need for Speed Unbound for months by then.
Games and franchises developed by Criterion Games:
- Scorched Planet
- Sub Culture
- Redline Racer
- TrickStyle
- Suzuki Alstare Racing
- Deep Fighter
- Burnout series
- Burnout
- Burnout 2: Point of Impact
- Burnout 3: Takedown
- Burnout Revenge
- Burnout Legends
- Burnout Paradise
- Burnout Paradise Remasterednote
- Burnout CRASH!
- AirBlade
- Black
- Need for Speed series (2010–2013, 2020–present)
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered (2020)note
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)
- Need for Speed Rivals (2013; in collaboration with Ghost Games)
- Need for Speed (2015)note
- Need for Speed Unbound (2022)
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)
- Battlefield Hardline note
- Star Wars Battlefront (2015) note