According to various tweets reported on by VG247, acclaimed UK development studio Criterion Games is now down to 17 staff, but the word lay-offs doesn't appear to have been mentioned once, as between 60 and 65 former Criterion employees have moved across to fellow EA-subsidiary studio Ghost Games.

Ghost Games is the Sweden-based studio formerly known as EA Gothenburg, whose debut title is the upcoming Need for Speed Rivals. Criterion had been widely credited has having reinvigorated the Need for Speed franchise with Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and now it looks like much of the team responsible for those successes, as well as the celebrated heritage of the Burnout franchise, are now onboard with Need for Speed's new Swedish handlers.

As for Criterion, surviving Creative Director Alex Ward's twitter feed explains that they are currently working on a new project, but that they're not talking about it just yet.

Need for Speed Rivals is due on November 19th for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and as a launch title on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.