The studio behind Battlefield, Burnout and Need for Speed turns 30 – this is what it means to the people who work there

Gaming has suffered through a tumultuous few years, with layoffs impacting almost every corner of the industry.

At a time when some of the most talented studios are facing closure, it feels therefore even more important to celebrate the wins, and Criterion is nothing is not a triumph.

In the heart of Guildford, just outside London, lies Criterion Games, one of the UK's most storied games developers.

After its founding in 1996, it brought us Redline Racer, Burnout, Need for Speed, and is now a core part of EA's Battlefield Studios. After 30 years, what does the studio look like now, and what comes next?

Danny Isaac is a senior producer at Criterion. After working on Need for Speed at Ghost Games, he joined Criterion in early 2020, but his love of the studio runs deep, sparking a genuine joy at being here for this milestone.

"It's kind of strange in one way, because I think a lot of developers are 12-year-old kids on the inside, right?", he began. "I started quite young, and then to think I've been doing this.

"Well, Criterion's been around for 30 years. I'm proud that we've been around that long. The amount of games we've developed and delivered, more importantly, as a studio, and a lot of them are fans' favourites.

"Whenever we talk to people about Criterion, whether it was Burnout, it was Black or it was Need for Speed, and now in our new incarnation, Battlefield 6, I think that's it.

"We haven't just been around, you know? We delivered some amazing games over those 30 years."

Amy Pejic, director of operations at Criterion, centres Criterion at the heart of the turmoil in gaming as a beacon of sorts.

"Criterion has a really storied past. It has a history. It has a heritage – a UK heritage, but also a video game industry heritage.

"You think about the industry, of where things are right now, and there's a bit of turmoil, and there's a lot of change in the last few years, and we're all feeling it.

"So to be able to say that you're a studio that has not just survived for 30 years, but to continue to reinvent itself, to continue to look at new ways of evolving, growing, taking on new challenges, new genres, it feels like a real privilege."

Stefan Wittelsberger, producer at Criterion for two years, jumped in to echo these sentiments.

"I was 13 when Criterion was founded," he explained. "30 years is a huge feat, right? Being here, surviving for 30 years is a huge feat, and I think you see all the people that have contributed to that history throughout the whole 30 years, and I can see why it survived.

"There's so much talent here. There's so much effort and energy placed into reinventing, creating, recreating and reinvigorating the studio as a whole that I'm super excited about the future as well."

Higher up the food chain still, Rebecka Coutaz is the VP general manager for Battlefield Studios Europe, and while she has only worked with Criterion since 2024, her entire career has been linked to it, thanks to the pioneering RenderWare game engine.

"I used RenderWare myself to create games back on the PlayStation 2," she recalled.

"Criterion made a prototype called Trafalgar that they showed at E3 in 2013. At the time, I was managing director of one of Ubisoft's studios in France, and we were in pre-production for an open-world sport game called Steep.

"When I saw the prototype at E3 in 2013, I went, 'Oh my God, Criterion is making the same game as me and my teams.' We panicked a little bit. We know the legacy of Criterion, so of course I've kept an eye on Criterion for a long, long time."

For Coutaz, just as with Wittelsberger, Criterion's longevity comes down to its talent.

"Of course, it's the talent, very skilled talent. We have a lot of people who have been with us for decades. We have people who joined us 10 years ago, five years ago and last year – it's the talent.

"And it's also the culture that we have – our three words: dare, delight and deliver.

"We are player focused. We want to be able to provide the best player experiences ever."

The celebration has certainly been buoyed by the success of Battlefield 6, viewed by many fans and critics as a return to form after a few lacklustre releases.

But while the scale and resources offered by Battlefield Studios gives Criterion a newfound ceiling when it comes to BF6, it does appear that, at least for the moment, Criterion is a Battlefield-only studio.

"Need for Speed and Burnout are part of our legacy," Coutaz explained, "but you know, today Battlefield and our players require so much, so we are solely focused on Battlefield."

To wrap up, I asked the four what Criterion as a studio means to them. And while all four gave their own answers, the underlying themes are evident.

"I'm unashamedly proud to be British and have a British studio," said Isaac. "Criterion is the home of one of the best FPS AAA development teams in the country, if not the world.

For Pejic, "Criterion is heritage. Criterion is evolution. I think Criterion is that grittiness, that player first approach. Criterion for me is a responsibility to continue to deliver to our players, to deliver on our heritage, our brand, who we are, what brought us here, and everyone who's contributed in the last 30 years."

Wittelsberger, meanwhile, looks to the future: "Criterion is world-class development. We're working with global studios, we're working with top talent, and we're working on the biggest games. And I think that is something to be extremely proud of.

"Criterion has the ambition to continuing to grow even further than that into the next 30 years or more, and being part of shaping that journey is huge, right? If you ever want to join a world-class team, come knock on our door."

Finally, for Coutaz, it's about the culture: "I love working with the team. It's the British culture. It's pragmatic. It's hard conversations but great decisions. It's challenging. It's warm. It's fun. It's witty humour. The team here is great, I love working with them."

30 years is a gargantuan milestone for any video game studio. Relative to the likes of film and TV, gaming is still somewhat in its infancy.

The legacy of Criterion, of Burnout, Need for Speed, through to Battlefield, of the cult classics like TrickStyle, Black and Redline Racer.

Of the countless games made over the years with RenderWare, including GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas, to drive home quite where we would be without it.

Criterion is undoubtedly one of the most legendary studios in the British games industry, and globally, and with the studio kicking off its 31st year in good form, I can see no reason why we won't be having these conversations again in 30 years' time.