When Alex Ward, Co-Founder of Criterion Games, tweeted on December 31st, “2014 is going to be such an exciting year. I literally cannot wait. The future is about to begin…,” it seemed as though he was getting excited for what Criterion was working on and the reveal of their new title. Well, that isn’t the case as both he and fellow Co-Founder Fiona Sperry have left the studio.
Ward briefly explained on Twitter what the reason for their departure was:
Just decided to start afresh and form a new games company with Fiona Sperry.
If you were hoping that Ward would “give us some dirty details on EA” following the leave, he simply said, “Sorry, that’s just not who we are..”
As for the EA side of things, they sent out this statement to Polygon:
Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry have decided to leave EA. We appreciate their many contributions through the years and wish them well in their future endeavors.
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.
With the majority of Criterion staff moving to Ghost Games to help out with Need for Speed, it left only 17 people (now 15) at Criterion games to work on their new IP, which isn’t a racing game because, as Ward previously said, “We have something else we desire to create.”
What do you think of Ward and Sperry leaving Criterion? Let us know in the comments below.
