Criterion Founders Working On Burnout Spiritual Successor

In March 2014, Criterion founders Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry announced the opening of their new studio, Three Fields Entertainment. Today, we’ve learned of two projects under development, with one certain to make racing fans happy.

In a series of tweets today, the studio opened up about what we can expect. Yes, we're going to get another chance to cause terrible traffic accidents again.

Two things. Our first game is a multiplayer sports game. Coming Spring 2016. Then we make a driving game. RT and #ScreamIfYouWantToGoFaster

— Three Fields (@3FieldsEnt) October 1, 2015

What sort of driving game you ask? A spiritual successor. Speed. Traffic. And Crashing. Lots and lots of crashing. #ShinyRedSomething

— Three Fields (@3FieldsEnt) October 1, 2015

Since then, the studio has been fielding “votes” from fans about which of the Burnout games the studio should be using as a model. It’s been seven years since the last title in the series, the open world Burnout Paradise (which is being worked on for Xbox One backward compatibility).

Given the timing, we probably won’t see Three Fields’ driving game until 2017. What’s another couple of years when we’ve waited this long already?

As for Criterion, its next game was introduced in early form at E3 2014. The game will feature vehicles on air, land, and sea, but it was a no-show at events this year. Alex Ward tells us the project began development nine months prior to his and Sperry's departure.

Note: Alex Ward reached out to clarify the timing of Criterion's in-development project as it relates to his and Fiona Sperry's departure from the studio. The story has been updated to reflect as such.

[Source: Three Fields Entertainment on Twitter (1), (2)]

Our Take
I’m not a big fan of racing games, but Burnout has always been the exception. Bring it on.