Which is the studio that famously created the Burnout series of arcade racing games, dabbled in some Need for Speed, and more recently supported development on DICE titles Battlefield V and Star Wars: Battlefront II. EA studio Ghost Games, the team behind the last four Need for Speed games (that were met with mixed responses) will shift to become a support studio.

And be rebranded as EA Gothenburg, as per this report from Gamesindustry.biz. A statement from EA to the publication notes, "The engineering expertise in our Gothenburg team, some of whom are architects of the Frostbite engine, is vital to a number of our ongoing projects, and they would remain in that location."

That said it is expected that some of the creative team will make the move to Criterion or other EA studios - with some other roles to become redundant, as many as 30.

As per our review of the most recent NFS, Need for Speed: Heat, the franchise hasn't been at the forefront of the racing genre for quite sometime. "There is fun to be had here," we wrote. "But in light of what else is out in the racing/driving wild these days, leaves Heat eating proverbial dust."

Finally, EA notes that with Criterion at the helm it plans to take Need for Speed into the next generation (PS5 and Xbox Series X) - presumably, with the pedal to the metal.