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Need for Speed: Unbound is selling quite well, but with this good news, Criterion Games is also met with bad news: five executives who have held their positions for many years have left the studio at once. Some of them have been with Criterion for nearly a quarter of a century:
- Matt Webster, vice president and general manager, has left after 23 years;
- Pete Lake, executive producer, has been involved in projects for 26 years;
- Andrey Shayers, Senior Technical Director, has been in office for 16 years;
- Alan McDarimant, head of the firm’s department, served 17 years;
- Steve Uphill, Head of Content, has been with Criterion for 10 years.
All five left the studio to “explore new opportunities outside of EA”. Needs for Speed is now executive produced by Charity Joy, who has transferred from the series UFC by EA Jeff Smith, formerly of the series Dirty and Grill at Codemasters, he is Senior Director of Product Development at Needs for Speed.
It’s not unusual for developers to leave the studio after the release of a big game, but with so many Criterion veterans leaving, it’s going to take some time to recover. It also seems to be fueling rumors that Need for Speed Unbound’s launch won’t be as successful as EA hoped, which sales started on Xbox 40% off.
