EA has confirmed that the next Need for Speed entry originally set for release sometime this year by developer Criterion has been delayed in order for the latter to assist in development efforts for their upcoming return to military shooter Battlefield. When speaking to Polygon EA’s Laura Miele stated that the pandemic and recent acquisition of Codemasters which is set to release it’s first racing game under EA’s banner sometime this year made the decision a rational call.

If EA wanted to keep from oversaturating it’s racing games library year one then it does make sense to put a pause on whichever title wasn’t as far along in development as the other. At the very least they’re giving the team something else to do until it’s time to get back on track with development for Need for Speed. EA further clarified that Criterion wouldn’t be removed from the Need for Speed project meaning this project shifting is only temporary until sometime next year. And Criterion prior to their original removal from development on the Need for Speed franchise had been helping EA and other developers on development for several projects including Star Wars Battlefront, Battlefront 2, and the Firestorm mode for Battlefield 5.