Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered PS4

The next Need for Speed is still shrouded in mystery, but we do know one thing for certain: Criterion Games is leading development on the project. Rumoured to be current-gen only, the upcoming racer will be yet another refresh for the series, which has struggled to align itself properly for years. Hopefully this will be the one to get it back in gear — and with Criterion growing in size, the man-power is certainly there.

Yes, Criterion is set to become a much larger studio. Announced on social media today, Codemasters Cheshire — which we understand is essentially what remains of DriveClub dev Evolution Studios — will be joining its ranks, unifying the two teams into one split across two locations.

Based on this thread of tweets, it seems the Codemasters team was already working on NFS alongside Criterion, so the merger is a result of that partnership. "Sharing common values and similar cultures, we strongly believe unifying the huge wealth of expertise across both teams will help us to deliver the best racing experiences we can for our players," Codemasters says.

It just makes us that much more curious about the new game. Criterion made a name for itself with the Burnout series and has worked on a couple of Need for Speed games before, but a lot has changed in the meantime. Staff at Codemasters Cheshire has previously worked on MotorStorm and Onrush, so it's no stranger to arcade racing either. On the face of it, this all seems pretty positive — we just need to see the new game now, especially as it's allegedly due out in a matter of months.

Are you excited for the next Need for Speed? What do you think of this news? Rev your engines in the comments section below.

[source twitter.com]