This was confirmed by EA’s chief studios officer Laura Miele, who explained to Polygon why this decision was made. Essentially, EA’s acquisition of Codemasters will ensure that the company has a new racing game product to release this year, so it doesn’t feel the pressure to rush out a new Need for Speed. With that pressure gone, EA is able to shift Criterion’s focus to Battlefield 6, assisting DICE, who has had to deal with working remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions.

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Miele stressed that this does not mean that Criterion’s Need for Speed game is in jeopardy. Fans of the racing game franchise can still look forward to Criterion’s new Need for Speed game, they will just have to wait until 2022 to play it.

As far as the new Battlefield game goes, very little is known about it in an official capacity. Outside of the fact that it exists and is aiming for release in fall 2021, EA has kept tight-lipped about the 2021 entry in the long-running first-person shooter franchise. However, recent reports suggest that a Battlefield 2021 reveal could take place as early as this month, so fans should keep an eye out for more information.

While official details on the new Battlefield are scarce, leakers have hinted at what fans can expect. If the leaks and rumors are to be believed, Battlefield 6 destructible environments will be on a whole other level when compared to previous games, allowing players to demolish entire cities. There are also rumors that the new Battlefield, which may or may not be called Battlefield 6, will take inspiration from Battlefield 3 and use a modern setting.

Rumormongers have also talked about Battlefield 6 having a massive player count on next-gen consoles, so it will be interesting to see if that’s true. Hopefully fans get some official details on the new Battlefield game sooner rather than later so the speculation can be put to rest.

Battlefield 6 is in development for release later this year.

MORE: Battlefield 6 Needs to Be More Like Battlefield 3 and 4, Less Like BF1 and BF5

Source: Polygon