Matt Webster, them vice president in general manager of Criterion, leaves the studio after more than 23 years. In addition to him, four other high-ranking people are leaving the studio, who have indicated that they want to “explore new possibilities outside of Electronic Arts”.
The departure of the leaders of the study was confirmed by EA a GamesIndustry.biz. Their departure follows not long after the release of Need for Speed Unbound, which was released on December 2nd. Webster had been with Criterion Games for over 23 years and had been with EA since 1990. He was part of the first EA team responsible for the first FIFA game, which was in 1993 for the Mega Drive. Also, leave executive producer Pete Lake, who started at Criterion in 1996 and senior technical director Andrei Shires, who worked for the studio for 16 years.
In addition, studio development head Alan McDairmant is leaving EA after 17 years and Steve Uphill, who heads content left after a period of 6 years. Uphill worked for EA from 2004 to 2008 as artistic director and reverted to developer in 2016.
EA confirms to GamesIndustry.biz that Charity Joy, owner of executive producer came from multiple EA Sports games, moved to Criterion. This is what he is playing the role of executive producer to satisfy. Geoff Smith, who previously worked on racing games DiRT and Grid, is now the senior director of product development on the Need for Speed series. Criterion Games has been part of EA since 2004. The studio is known for Burnout games and made four Need for Speed games between 2010 and 2022: Hot Pursuit, Most Wanted, Rivals and Unbound.
