Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry, vice president and creative director, and studio director respectively, who co-founded the acclaimed studio, the guys behind Burnout and the Need for Speed revival, have left the studio, Polygon reports.
“Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry have decided to leave EA,” an EA spokesperson said. “We appreciate their many contributions through the years and wish them well in their future endeavours.
“The incredibly creative and talented team at Criterion are hard at work on a new project for next-gen consoles as new IP continues to be a major priority across EA. Matt Webster is leading development of the new game and the Criterion studio moving forward. Matt has been part of Criterion for years and has an exciting vision for this new game.”
Criterion itself faces an uncertain future as of now. The studio dramatically downsized early last year, and was working secretly on some sort of next generation project that remains unannounced. But with only two dozen or so personnel remaining, the departure of the studio heads must come as a big blow to the company.
Ward, on his part, wants to start over. He tweeted that he “just decided to start afresh and form a new games company with Fiona Sperry.”