Misplaced Pages

#531468

122-603: Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford . Founded in January 1996 as a division of Criterion Software, it was owned by Canon Inc. until Criterion Software was sold to Electronic Arts in October 2004. Many of the studio's titles were built on the RenderWare engine, which Criterion Software developed. Notable games developed by Criterion include entries in

244-588: A database , Voice over IP , or add-in interface software; this is also known as middleware . Examples of this include SpeedTree and Havoc . Independents are software developers which are not owned by (or dependent on) a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. With

366-422: A Factory Driver mode, where the player had to test Porsches to move forward in the game and did not feature a split-screen mode. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 was the debut NFS title from EA Black Box , and the first NFS for the sixth generation consoles . Different versions of the game were produced for each platform. The Xbox , GameCube , and Microsoft Windows versions were developed by EA Seattle, while

488-614: A bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes footage on the making of the game. Need for Speed: ProStreet , developed by EA Black Box, was released in 2007. Key features of the game included realistic damage, a return to realistic racing , modeling, and burnouts. The game lacked the free roam mode found in earlier releases, instead, all of the races were on closed race tracks that took place on organized race days. The game consisted of drag races, speed challenges (essentially sprint races and speed traps), grip races (circuit racing), and drift races. Need for Speed: Undercover , developed by EA Black Box,

610-564: A cash prize that can be spent on repairing, purchasing, or upgrading cars for subsequent races. The game's Hot Pursuit mode, which was introduced in Hot Pursuit , was expanded with more options, allowing players to control police pursuits attempting to stop racers. Porsche Unleashed (North America and Latin America title), Porsche 2000 (European and Australian title), or simply Porsche (in Germany)

732-452: A culture of "toxic geek masculinity" within the workplace. In addition, the conditions behind crunch time are far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family. These factors established conditions within some larger development studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace hiring and promotion, as well as

854-486: A demo game, CyberStreet , while fully-fledged games were developed by companies like 47Tek. Meanwhile, competitor Argonaut Software developed full games—including FX Fighter and Alien Odyssey –to showcase its BRender technology. In response, Criterion Software hired new staff in 1995 to establish a dedicated game development division . To support this expansion, Criterion Software moved to new offices within Guildford in late 1995. The division, Criterion Studios ,

976-527: A few bonus cars; it also included a behind-the-scenes DVD . Both versions were available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows-based PCs, while only the standard edition was available for GameCube, Nintendo DS, and Xbox 360. Most Wanted had extremely positive reviews and received universal acclaim from reviewers in many gaming websites and magazines, praising the graphics, sound effects, and general gameplay. With 16 million copies sold worldwide, Most Wanted

1098-522: A fictional city called Tri-City Bay. The player's role was as an undercover cop, trying to stop street racers. Containing live-action cutscenes that feature the actress Maggie Q , the game also featured a damage system where parts could break off after a crash. The Collector's Edition for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 added another five new cars, twelve new circuits, and sprint and checkpoint track configurations. Also included were specially tuned versions of ten existing cars, plus 35 exclusive vinyls for adding

1220-571: A first-party company. As a balance to not being able to release their game for other platforms, second-party developers are usually offered higher royalty rates than third-party developers. These studios may have exclusive publishing agreements (or other business relationships) with the platform holder, but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their contracts, they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they choose to. For example, while HAL Laboratory initially began developing games on personal computers like

1342-410: A fixed period and generally work similar hours as full-time staff members, assisting across all areas of video game development, but as contractors, do not get any benefits such as paid time-off or health care from the employer; they also are typically not credited on games that they work on for this reason. The practice itself is legal and common in other engineering and technology areas, and generally it

SECTION 10

#1733094132532

1464-403: A game on schedule. The complexity of workflow, reliance on third-party deliverables, and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones. The use of crunch time is also seen to be exploitative of the younger male-dominated workforce in video games, who have not had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within

1586-406: A game's profits. Current examples of first-party studios include PlayStation Studios for Sony, and Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Gaming . Second-party developer is a colloquial term often used by gaming enthusiasts and media to describe game studios that take development contracts from platform holders and develop games exclusive to that platform, i.e. a non-owned developer making games for

1708-451: A limited number of checkpoints. The concept of car tuning evolved with each new game, from focusing mainly on the mechanics of the car to including how the car looks. Each game except Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has car tuning which can set options for items like ABS , traction control , or downforce , or for upgrading parts like the engine or gearbox. Visual tuning of the player's car becomes important in tournament/career mode after

1830-515: A new game engine named Chameleon. On 1 June 2012, Electronic Arts announced Criterion's second Need for Speed title, Need for Speed: Most Wanted , which was released on 30 October 2012. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, Criterion Games announced that it had taken sole ownership of the Need for Speed franchise . On 28 April 2013, Alex Ward announced via Twitter that the studio is planning to steer away from its tradition of developing racing games and

1952-512: A number of different time periods. These include, but are not limited to, Olympic, Bayview, Rockport, Palmont City, Tri-City Bay, Seacrest County, Fairhaven City, Redview County, Ventura Bay, Fortune Valley, Palm City and Lakeshore City. The original Need for Speed was released for 3DO in 1994 with versions released for the PC ( DOS ) (1995), PlayStation and Saturn (1996) following shortly afterwards. The Need for Speed and its Special Edition were

2074-437: A position in a medium to large video game company. An experienced game-development employee, depending on their expertise and experience, averaged roughly $ 73,000 in 2007. Indie game developers may only earn between $ 10,000 and $ 50,000 a year depending on how financially successful their titles are. In addition to being part of the software industry, game development is also within the entertainment industry; most sectors of

2196-449: A potential F-Zero game on the Wii U. Alex Ward also noted on Twitter that Criterion was also offered the opportunity to work on the first Forza , Mad Max , a Vauxhall only racer, a Command & Conquer first-person shooter and a Gone in 60 Seconds game. In 2018, EA announced that Battlefield V would have a battle royale mode and would be developed by Criterion. Following

2318-624: A roundtable discussion with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the professional association for developers. Statements made by the IGDA's current executive director Jen MacLean relating to IGDA's activities had been seen by as anti-union, and Game Workers Unite desired to start a conversation to lay out the need for developers to unionize. In the wake of the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games in September 2018,

2440-407: A single publisher; one canceled game may devastate a small developer. Because of this, many small development companies are short-lived. A common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher, becoming an in-house developer. In-house development teams tend to have more freedom in game design and content than third-party developers. One reason is that since

2562-450: A social multiplayer game on Facebook. Need for Speed: Nitro-X (2010) is a newer installment for use with the DSi / XL and the 3DS system. Essentially the original release, it was updated with several updates: 18 licensed vehicles; new police units; custom tags; 16 updated tracks; a revised career mode; local multiplayer matches for up to four players; and new rewards and unlockables. The game

SECTION 20

#1733094132532

2684-524: A social platform, titled Autolog, which allows players to track game progress, view leaderboards, share screenshots with friends, among other features. The 2010 Hot Pursuit game would be well-received; a remastered version was released ten years later in 2020. As a result of Hot Pursuit ' s critical success, in-contrast to the mixed reception of the Black Box-developed installments since 2007's Need for Speed: ProStreet , Criterion would become

2806-466: A speeding vehicle. This was the first version since the start of the series not to feature an "in the driving seat" (cockpit) camera view, transitioning EA from realistic racing to arcade street racing. It was the last game in the series for the PC version to feature the split-screen two-player mode introduced in Need for Speed II . For the multiplayer mode of the PC version, GameSpy 's internet matchmaking system

2928-403: A strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background for women at the secondary education level, but there are issues with tertiary education such as at colleges and universities, where game development programs tend to reflect the male-dominated demographics of the industry, a factor that may lead women with strong STEM backgrounds to choose other career goals. There

3050-682: A unique case where nearly all parts of its labor force, including white-collar jobs such as video game development, may engage with labor unions under the Employment Protection Act often through collective bargaining agreements. Developer DICE had reached its union agreements in 2004. Paradox Interactive became one of the first major publishers to support unionization efforts in June 2020 with its own agreements to cover its Swedish employees within two labor unions Unionen and SACO . In Australia, video game developers could join other unions, but

3172-457: A unique visual style. Need for Speed: Shift , developed by Slightly Mad Studios, was released in 2009. It features over 60 cars and 19 tracks, some of which are licensed tracks while others are fictional. The improved driving simulation was accompanied by an adaptive difficulty, while it reintroduced a cockpit view. NFS: Shift focused on racing simulation rather than the arcade racing of previous titles. NFS: Shift received better reviews than

3294-620: Is allowed to form a " crew " that aids the player in races. Drift events returned to the series in Carbon . Drag racing was removed from the series, but a new type of race called "Canyon Duel" was added, where the closer the player is to the leader, the more points they accrue. If the player overtakes the leader and remains in front for 10 seconds, they win automatically. Another new feature is "Autosculpt", which allows players to custom-fabricate their own auto parts. The Collector's Edition features three new cars, ten specially tuned cars, six new races, and

3416-473: Is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game industry; a 2019 IGDA survey found only 2% of developers considered themselves to be of African descent and 7% Hispanic, while 81% were Caucasian; in contrast, 2018 estimates from the United States Census estimate the U.S. population to be 13% of African descent and 18% Hispanic. In a 2014 and 2015 survey of job positions and salaries,

3538-474: Is different from the previous versions because it featured only Porsches . The vehicle handling in the PC version was said to be the most realistic in any NFS game, but the PSX (PS1) version had very simplified arcade handling that fell woefully short of the hallmark handling offered in the first game. The player had to win races to unlock cars in chronological order from 1950 to 2000. Porsche Unleashed also featured

3660-449: Is expected that this is meant to lead into a full-time position, or otherwise the end of the contract. But more recently, its use in the video game industry has been compared to Microsoft 's past use of " permatemp ", contract workers that were continually renewed and treated for all purposes as employees but received no benefits. While Microsoft has waned from the practice, the video game industry has adapted it more frequently. Around 10% of

3782-533: Is generally illegal, companies often target their oldest workers first during layoffs or other periods of reduction. Older developers with experience may find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered. Some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to alleviate crunch time from employees. Contractors are brought on for

Criterion Games - Misplaced Pages Continue

3904-541: Is instead focusing on other genres for future projects. On 13 September 2013, Criterion elected to cut its staff numbers to 17 people total, as 80% (70 people) of the studio moved over to Ghost Games UK to work with Need for Speed games. On 3 January 2014, it was announced that Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry left Criterion to found a new studio, Three Fields Entertainment . Their first game Dangerous Golf , slated for release in May 2016, combined ideas from Burnout and Black and

4026-501: Is known as Need for Speed: Carbon – Own the City . The Wii port lacked online but made full use of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. NFS: Carbon continued the story from Most Wanted , but the game has far less emphasis on the police. Carbon saw the return of nighttime-only racing, with a selection of cars similar to that of Most Wanted . Carbon introduced a new feature wherein the player

4148-494: Is still their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Developers may be private as well. In the video game industry , a first-party developer is part of a company that manufactures a video game console and develops mainly for it. First-party developers may use the name of the company itself (such as Nintendo ), have a specific division name (such as Sony's Polyphony Digital ) or have been an independent studio before being acquired by

4270-683: Is the best-selling game in the franchise. A game, also named Need for Speed: Most Wanted , was released in 2012 with British developer Criterion Games responsible for the development. Need for Speed: Carbon was developed by EA Black Box in 2006. It was the first NFS game for the PlayStation 3 and the Wii and the last NFS game for the GameCube , the Game Boy Advance , and the Xbox . Carbon's handheld port

4392-502: Is to lead them through a spiritual successor to Burnout . At the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014 , the company announced a new racing project. However, the project was cancelled as Criterion is now focusing on providing additional support to other EA studios in creating future Star Wars games. Criterion worked on Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission , a new virtual reality mission for Star Wars Battlefront ;

4514-474: Is usually conducted in a casual business environment, with t-shirts and sandals as common work attire. Many workers find this type of environment rewarding and pleasant professionally and personally. However, the industry also requires long working hours from its employees (sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable). Employee burnout is not uncommon. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, over $ 66,000 annually only if they are successful in obtaining

4636-612: The Burnout and Need for Speed series of racing games . As of April 2017, Criterion Games employ approximately 90 people. David Lau-Kee, the founder and leader of Canon Inc. 's European research arm, established Criterion Software as a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon in December 1993 and assumed the managing director role for it. At the time, Canon was seeking to establish a multimedia tool development business, while Lau-Kee had been working on interactive 2D image processing techniques and

4758-417: The Burnout series). The series generally centers around illegal street racing, and tasks players to complete various types of races while evading the local law enforcement in police pursuits. Need for Speed is one of EA's oldest franchises not published under their EA Sports brand. The series' first title, The Need for Speed , was released in 1994. The most recent game, Need for Speed Unbound ,

4880-589: The AFL–CIO writing an open letter to video game developers encouraging them to unionize. In January 2020, Game Workers Unite and the Communications Workers of America established a new campaign to push for unionization of video game developers, the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), in January 2020. Initial efforts for CODE were aimed to determine what approach to unionization would be best suited for

5002-456: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), are conducting increasing discussions about the problem; they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a significant deterioration in employees' quality of life. Some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive invocation of "crunch time". "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch

Criterion Games - Misplaced Pages Continue

5124-935: The Lamborghini Murciélago , Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren , Chevrolet Corvette and the Ford GT ; muscle cars refer to the Ford Mustang , Dodge Challenger and the Chevrolet Camaro ; while tuner cars are cars like the Nissan Skyline and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution . The special vehicles are civilian and police cars that are available for use in some games, such as the Ford Crown Victoria in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and garbage trucks, fire engines and taxis in Need for Speed: Carbon . Originally

5246-508: The MSX , they became one of the earliest second-party developers for Nintendo, developing exclusively for Nintendo's consoles starting with the Famicom, though they would self-publish their mobile games. A third-party developer may also publish games, or work for a video game publisher to develop a title. Both publisher and developer have considerable input in the game's design and content. However,

5368-517: The Me Too movement and have tried to address the symptoms of these problems industry-wide, the video game industry has yet to have its Me Too-moment, even as late as 2021. There also tends to be pay-related discrimination against women in the industry. According to Gamasutra 's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game designing women had

5490-902: The Need for Speed games. GamesIndustry.biz named Criterion Games among the "best places to work in the UK video games industry" in the "Best Mid-sized Companies" category in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Video game developer A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game consoles , or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and mobile devices ). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts 's EA Canada , Square Enix 's studios, Activision 's Radical Entertainment , Nintendo EPD and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog ). However, since publishing

5612-404: The Need for Speed series. Underground shifted from semi-professional racing and isolated circuits to the street racing style of other arcade racing series: all circuits became part of a single map, Olympic City, except for drifts. Underground introduced two new play modes (Drag and Drift) and more tuning options than in the earlier High Stakes . Underground was also the first game in

5734-504: The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union doing work for video games struck several major publishers, demanding better royalty payments and provisions related to the safety of their vocal performances, when their union's standard contract was up for renewal. The voice actor strike lasted for over 300 days into 2017 before a new deal was made between SAG-AFTRA and

5856-528: The video game industry . He told the Los Angeles Times : "Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn't getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators." Need for Speed Need for Speed ( NFS ) is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games (the developers of

5978-463: The Blacklist, a crew consisting of 15 racers that the player must beat one-by-one to unlock parts, cars, tracks, and to complete career mode. The player had to meet certain requirements before they could take on the next Blacklist rival, such as races completed, milestones achieved, and bounty earned. A special Black Edition of Most Wanted was also released, featuring additional races, challenges, and

6100-446: The IGDA found that people of color were both underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to white developers. Further, because video game developers typically draw from personal experiences in building game characters, this diversity gap has led to few characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games. Minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to

6222-543: The PS2 version was developed by Black Box Games in Vancouver. Hot Pursuit 2 draws primarily from the gameplay and style of NFS III , putting emphasis on evading the police and over-the-top tracks. Although the game allowed players to play as the police, the pursuit mode was less realistic than preceding versions of NFS ; players merely needed to "tap" a speeder to arrest them, as opposed to using simulated police tactics to immobilize

SECTION 50

#1733094132532

6344-521: The acquisition of Activision Blizzard , stated it supported these unionization efforts. After this acquisition, the employees of Bethesda Game Studios , part of Zenimax under Microsoft, unionized under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in July 2024. Over 500 employees within Blizzard Entertainment 's World of Warcraft division also unionized with CWA that same month. Sweden presents

6466-572: The advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles, it is now possible for indie game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad distribution of their games. Other indie game developers create game software for a number of video-game publishers on several gaming platforms. In recent years this model has been in decline; larger publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision, increasingly turn to internal studios (usually former independent developers acquired for their development needs). Video game development

6588-426: The beginning of the game, and the objective is to unlock the remaining locked content by winning tournaments. This version featured chases by police cars, a popular theme throughout the series. Another version called The Need for Speed: Special Edition , was released only for the PC in 1996. It featured support for DirectX 2 and TCP/IP networking , two new tracks, but dropped the ever-popular flip and go in favor of

6710-416: The cars cannot be damaged at all; in some games, the software simulates real-car behavior (physics), while in others there are more forgiving physics. With the release of Need for Speed: Underground , the series shifted from racing sports cars on scenic point-to-point tracks to an import/tuner subculture involving street racing in an urban setting. To date, this theme has remained prevalent in most of

6832-431: The closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job, while audio professional women had the largest gap, making 68% of what men in the same position made. Increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of video games and in the content of video games. Efforts have been made to provide

6954-415: The company closed its Derby satellite office, making all of its programmers and support staff redundant. In early March 2007, Electronic Arts combined its Chertsey-based UK development studio and Criterion Games into a new building in central Guildford. Integration of the teams did not occur and the location housed two very separate development studios: Criterion Games and EA Bright Light before Bright Light

7076-447: The company in 1991, it had created popular racing games such as Stunts and Test Drive II: The Duel . After the purchase, the company was renamed Electronic Arts (EA) Canada . The company capitalized on its experience in the domain by developing the Need for Speed series in late 1992. EA Canada continued to develop and expand the Need for Speed franchise up to 2002, when another Vancouver-based developer, named Black Box Games ,

7198-401: The company would return to do additional work for the 2017 sequel . In June 2015, news site Nintendo Life revealed that in early 2011 Nintendo of Europe approached Criterion to work on a pitch for a new F-Zero game which they hoped to unveil at E3 that same year alongside the then-unreleased Wii U console, and potentially release the game during the console's launch period. However,

7320-416: The console manufacturer (such as Rare or Naughty Dog ). Whether by purchasing an independent studio or by founding a new team, the acquisition of a first-party developer involves a huge financial investment on the part of the console manufacturer, which is wasted if the developer fails to produce a hit game on time. However, using first-party developers saves the cost of having to make royalty payments on

7442-503: The console. This established the use of licensing fees as a model for third-party development that persists into the present. The licensing fee approach was further enforced by Nintendo when it decided to allow other third-party developers to make games for the Famicom console, setting a 30% licensing fee that covered game cartridge manufacturing costs and development fees. The 30% licensing fee for third-party developers has also persisted to

SECTION 60

#1733094132532

7564-444: The developer if the game is not meeting expectations. When each milestone is completed (and accepted), the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties . Successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers. Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, close-knit teams. Third-party game development is a volatile sector, since small developers may depend on income from

7686-414: The developer was unable to handle the pitch as, at the time, they devoted much of their resources into the development of Need for Speed: Most Wanted for multiple platforms. The site was tipped by an anonymous, yet "reliable" source, but they had confirmed this information when Criterion co-founder Alex Ward (who left the company in 2014) admitted that Nintendo of Europe did indeed approach the company for

7808-417: The developers are the publisher's employees, their interests align with those of the publisher; the publisher may spend less effort ensuring that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher's expense. Activision in 1979 became the first third-party video game developer. When four Atari, Inc. programmers left the company following its sale to Warner Communications , partially over

7930-467: The entertainment industry (such as films and television ) require long working hours and dedication from their employees, such as willingness to relocate and/or required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste. The creative rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry, creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and performance from employees. Industry communities, such as

8052-416: The first game in the series to support Direct3D hardware. High Stakes , developed by EA Canada and EA Seattle, was released in 1999. The game features more realistic elements than its predecessors and introduced a damage system that allows cars to take damage when colliding with objects, affecting their appearance and performance. It also introduced a series of economy-based tournaments, awarding players with

8174-434: The first games released for the Xbox 360 . The PlayStation Portable port of Most Wanted is titled Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0 . Police chases represent a significant body of the gameplay, and includes the free-roaming aspect of Underground 2 , but with less extensive vehicle customization features. The story mode is a different style from Underground , with CGI effects mixed with live-action. The game featured

8296-506: The first video game-specific union, Game Workers Unite Australia, was formed in December 2021 under Professionals Australia to become active in 2022. In Canada, in a historic move, video game workers in Edmonton unanimously voted to unionize for the first time in June 2022. In January 2023, after not being credited in The Last of Us HBO adaptation, Bruce Straley called for unionization of

8418-463: The following games. Need for Speed: Shift and its sequel took a simulator approach to racing, featuring closed-circuit racing on real tracks like the Nürburgring and Laguna Seca , as well as the fictional street circuits in various cities like London and Chicago . The car lists include a combination of exotics, sports cars, and tuners in addition to special race cars. Most of the games in

8540-465: The form of suspension upgrades, nitrous systems, and engine mods. Need for Speed: Underground Rivals was the first Need for Speed game released on the PlayStation Portable. Different from Need for Speed: Underground 2 as it had no free roam and the cars were very limited, it was released in 2005. Need for Speed: Most Wanted was developed by EA Black Box, released in 2005, and was one of

8662-458: The franchise has been one of the most successful of all time, selling over 150 million copies. The franchise has expanded into other forms of media, including a film adaptation and licensed Hot Wheels toys. The Need for Speed series was originally developed by Distinctive Software , a video game studio based in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada. Prior to Electronic Arts ' purchase of

8784-472: The franchise include police pursuits in some form or other. In some of the games featuring police pursuit (e.g. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit ), the player can play as either the felon or the cop. The concepts of drifting and dragging were introduced in Need for Speed: Underground . These new mechanics are included in the tournament/career mode aside from the regular street races. In drift races, in games like Underground and Need for Speed (2015) ,

8906-479: The future. In August 2013, following the downsizing of Criterion Games, EA Swedish developer Ghost Games would become the main studio for the franchise, and oversee its future development. At the time, 80% of Ghost Games' work force consisted of former Criterion Games employees. From 2013 to 2019, Ghost Games would develop Need for Speed Rivals , the 2015 franchise reboot , 2017's Need for Speed Payback , and 2019's Need for Speed Heat . While Rivals

9028-414: The game were sold to Acclaim Entertainment , while Criterion Studios retained the intellectual property to the brand and technology. Acclaim published Burnout (2000) and its sequel, Burnout 2: Point of Impact (2002), which accumulated around 2 million sales. Despite this, Acclaim lacked the resources to market them in the United States, its home territory, leading to poor sales in the country. At

9150-468: The games in the NFS series employ the same fundamental rules and similar mechanics: the player controls a race car in a variety of races, the goal being to win the race. In the tournament/career mode, the player must win a series of races in order to unlock vehicles and tracks. Before each race, the player chooses a vehicle and has the option of selecting either an automatic or manual transmission . All games in

9272-404: The gaming industry, while a 2017 IGDA survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to about 20%. Taking into account that a 2017 ESA survey found 41% of video game players were female, this represented a significant gender gap in game development. The male-dominated industry, most who have grown up playing video games and are part of the video game culture , can create

9394-463: The handling dynamics tuning with the automotive magazine's seasoned drivers to match vehicle behavior including realistic over and understeer that remains impressive decades later, as well as sounds made by the vehicles' gear control levers and other functions. The game contained vehicle data with spoken commentary, several "magazine-style" images of each car, and short video clips highlighting the vehicles set to music. Most cars and tracks are available at

9516-452: The industry by working long hours. Because crunch time tends to come from a combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence, the term "crunch culture" is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time may be seen as the norm rather than the exception. The use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004, when Erin Hoffman exposed

9638-431: The lack of respect that the new management gave to programmers, they used their knowledge of how Atari VCS game cartridges were programmed to create their own games for the system, founding Activision in 1979 to sell these. Atari took legal action to try to block the sale of these games, but the companies ultimately settled, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of their sales as a license fee to Atari for developing for

9760-427: The lead developer of the franchise going forward. At E3 2012 , Criterion Games vice president Alex Ward announced that random developers would no longer be developing NFS titles. Ward wouldn't confirm that all Need for Speed games in the future would be developed entirely by Criterion, but he did say the studio would have "strong involvement" in them and would have control over which NFS titles would be released in

9882-524: The more generic scene reset after an accident, a portents of the arcade-style gaming that would dominate the series ever after. Need for Speed II ( NFS II ) featured some rare and exotic vehicles, including the Ford Indigo concept vehicle, and featured country-themed tracks from North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. A new racing mode was also introduced, dubbed "Knockout", where the last racers to finish laps will be eliminated. In addition, track design

10004-551: The movement again called out for the industry to unionize. The movement argued that Telltale had not given any warning to its 250 employees let go, having hired additional staff as recently as a week prior, and left them without pensions or health-care options; it was further argued that the studio considered this a closure rather than layoffs, as to get around failure to notify required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 preceding layoffs. The situation

10126-448: The nature of the video game culture. The industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue, discriminating against the hiring and retention of older developers. A 2016 IGDA survey found only 3% of developers were over 50 years old, while at least two-thirds were between 20 and 34; these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the U.S. national average of about 41.9 that same year. While discrimination by age in hiring practices

10248-529: The news, there have typically been followup discussions towards the potential to form a union. A survey performed by the International Game Developers Association in 2014 found that more than half of the 2,200 developers surveyed favored unionization. A similar survey of over 4,000 game developers run by the Game Developers Conference in early 2019 found that 47% of respondents felt the video game industry should unionize. In 2016, voice actors in

10370-426: The only games in the series to support DOS, with subsequent releases for the PC running only on Windows (excluding Need for Speed: Carbon which was also released on Mac OS X). The first installment of The Need for Speed was the only serious attempt by the series to provide a realistic simulation of car handling elements through the direct collaboration of Staff members from Road & Track . Electronic Arts left

10492-406: The player either attempted to outrun the police or be the cop, arresting speeders. NFS III took advantage of the multimedia capabilities by featuring audio commentary, picture slideshows, and music videos. This game was the first in the series to allow the downloading of additional cars from the official website. As a result, modding communities sprang up to create vehicles. The PC version was also

10614-445: The player must defeat other racers by totaling the most points, earned by the length and timing of the drift made by the player's vehicle. In drag races, the player must finish first to win the race, though if the player crashes into an obstacle or wall, the race ends. In Need for Speed Payback , the player has to earn a certain number of points to win; increase their multiplier based on how many points they get, whilst passing through

10736-473: The player through the campaign. The customization features were significantly expanded on modifications that did not affect vehicle performance. Players were required to customize their car to a certain numerical value in order to be offered DVD and magazine covers, the only way to advance to higher game levels. The game featured more extensive product placement for companies with no connection to auto racing. This game also had extensive customization options in

10858-694: The present, being a de facto rate used for most digital storefronts for third-party developers to offer their games on the platform. In recent years, larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers. While these development teams are now technically "in-house", they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner (with their own culture and work practices). For example, Activision acquired Raven (1997); Neversoft (1999), which merged with Infinity Ward in 2014; Z-Axis (2001); Treyarch (2001); Luxoflux (2002); Shaba (2002); Infinity Ward (2003) and Vicarious Visions (2005). All these developers continue operating much as they did before acquisition,

10980-414: The primary differences being exclusivity and financial details. Publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget (or missing deadlines) than third-party developers. A developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software, usually providing an external software tool which helps organize (or use) information for the primary software product. Such tools may be

11102-412: The prior three games in the series. The Special Edition contained a specially-tuned BMW M3 GT2, and an Elite Series track. Two items of downloadable content were released for the game. Need for Speed: Nitro is the first NFS game made exclusively for Nintendo DS and Wii , featuring arcade-style gameplay and targeting a casual audience, released in 2009. Need for Speed: Nitro was also available as

11224-429: The publisher's wishes generally override those of the developer. Work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision. The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a contract, which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a period of time. By updating its milestones, the publisher verifies that work is progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct

11346-463: The publishers. While this had some effects on a few games within the industry, it brought to the forefront the question of whether video game developers should unionize. A grassroots movement, Game Workers Unite , was established around 2017 to discuss and debate issues related to unionization of game developers. The group came to the forefront during the March 2018 Game Developers Conference by holding

11468-512: The release of Need for Speed: Underground 2 , when the appearance is rated from zero to ten points. When a car attains a high enough visual rating, the vehicle is eligible to be on the cover of a fictional magazine. Like all racing games, the Need for Speed series features a list of cars, modeled and named after actual cars. Cars in the franchise are divided into four categories: exotic cars , muscle cars , tuners , and special vehicles. Exotic cars feature high performance, expensive cars like

11590-451: The release of the mode (later revealed to be called Firestorm), development was halted soon after with the mode considered a failure by fans. In 2020, Criterion was announced to return as the main developer of the Need for Speed series, but work on the title was put on hold as Criterion was assigned to do additional work, including vehicular gameplay, on the next Battlefield game in March 2021. The aforementioned game, Battlefield 2042 ,

11712-480: The road (similar to Tokyo Xtreme Racer ). Underground 2 also introduced several SUVs , used to race against other SUVs. The most significant change vs. the original Underground was the introduction of its open world (free roam) environments, setting the tone for numerous NFS games to come. This was also the publisher's most marketed feature at launch. In addition, the game featured actresses/models Brooke Burke and Kelly Brook as in-game characters to help guide

11834-477: The same time, Criterion Studios (now named Criterion Games) was frequently approached by Electronic Arts (EA), which eventually signed with Criterion Games for the third release in the series, Burnout 3: Takedown (2004). In July 2004, EA announced that it had reached an agreement with Canon's European arm, Canon Europe, to acquire all of the Criterion Software group, including Criterion Games. The deal

11956-477: The series have some form of multiplayer mode allowing players to race one another via a split screen , a LAN or the Internet. Since Need for Speed: High Stakes , the series has also integrated car body customization into gameplay. Although the games share the same name, their tone and focus can vary significantly. For example, in some games the cars can suffer mechanical and visual damage, while in other games

12078-519: The series to feature a story, told via pre-rendered videos. Underground features tuner cars and has a wide variety of tuning options such as widebody kits, bumpers, spoilers, as well as performance upgrades such as engines and nitrous . City street racing is the primary focus of the game. There are no police in Underground and Underground 2 , which drew criticism as police had been an important part of previous titles. Need for Speed: Underground 2 ,

12200-520: The series took place in international settings, such as race tracks in Australia , Europe , and Africa . Beginning with Underground , the series has taken place in fictional metropolitan cities. The first game featured traffic on "head to head" mode, while later games traffic can be toggled on and off, and starting with Underground , traffic is a fixed obstacle. Most of the recent Need for Speed games are set in fictional locations of our world, in

12322-545: The target of sexual harassment. This can be coupled from similar harassment from external groups, such as during the 2014 Gamergate controversy . Major investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management, as well as discrimination by employers, have been brought up against Riot Games , Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s, alongside smaller studios and individual developers. However, while other entertainment industries have had similar exposure through

12444-484: The toxic nature of the video game culture. This racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one, and similar methods to result both have been suggested, such as improving grade school education, developing games that appeal beyond the white, male gamer stereotype, and identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race. In regards to LGBT and other gender or sexual orientations,

12566-487: The use of crunch time at Electronic Arts , a situation known as the "EA Spouses" case. A similar "Rockstar Spouses" case gained further attention in 2010 over working conditions at Rockstar San Diego . Since then, there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the industry as well as from its consumers and other media. Game development had generally been a predominately male workforce. In 1989, according to Variety , women constituted only 3% of

12688-504: The video game industry typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a 2005 IGDA survey. Those in the LGBT community do not find workplace issues with their identity, though work to improve the representation of LGBT themes within video games in the same manner as with racial minorities. However, LGBT developers have also come under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial minorities due to

12810-678: The video game industry. Whereas some video game employees believe they should follow the craft-based model used by SAG-AFTRA which would unionize based on job function, others feel an industry-wide union, regardless of job position, would be better. Starting in 2021, several smaller game studios in the United States began efforts to unionize. These mostly involved teams doing quality assurance rather than developers. These studios included three QA studios under Blizzard Entertainment : Raven Software , Blizzard Albany , and Proletariat; and Zenimax Media 's QA team. Microsoft , which had previously acquired Zenimax and announced plans to acquire Blizzard via

12932-504: The workforce in video games is estimated to be from contract labor. Similar to other tech industries, video game developers are typically not unionized . This is a result of the industry being driven more by creativity and innovation rather than production, the lack of distinction between management and employees in the white-collar area, and the pace at which the industry moves that makes union actions difficult to plan out. However, when situations related to crunch time become prevalent in

13054-405: Was acquired by EA and contracted to continue the series with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 . Meanwhile, Slightly Mad Studios would develop the 2009 sim racing title, Need for Speed: Shift , and its 2011 sequel, Shift 2: Unleashed . The UK-based Criterion Games would develop the 2010 Hot Pursuit title; a successor to 1998's Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit . The game introduced

13176-711: Was argued to be "exploitive", as Telltale had been known to force its employees to frequently work under "crunch time" to deliver its games. By the end of 2018, a United Kingdom trade union, Game Workers Unite UK, an affiliate of the Game Workers Unite movement, had been legally established. Following Activision Blizzard 's financial report for the previous quarter in February 2019, the company said that they would be laying off around 775 employees (about 8% of their workforce) despite having record profits for that quarter. Further calls for unionization came from this news, including

13298-489: Was developed by EA Black Box and released in 2004. A demo of the game was placed as a bonus in copies of the EA/ Criterion collaboration Burnout 3: Takedown . In Underground 2 , the story mode continued, but there were new racing modes such as Underground Racing League and Street X, more tuning options, and a new method of selecting races. Also included was an "outrun" mode where a player can challenge random opponents on

13420-439: Was established in January 1996 and announced the month thereafter, at the time employing 25 people. The headcount expanded to around 35 by October. RenderWare was thereafter gradually retooled as a game development programme, with its third iteration, released in 2000, first providing full game engine capabilities. The first game to use this version was Burnout , which Criterion Studios developed in tandem. Publishing rights to

13542-462: Was finalised on 19 October 2004, with EA paying US$ 68 million . After the purchase, both Criterion and Electronic Arts declared that RenderWare would continue to be made available to third-party customers. However, some clients decided it was too risky to rely on technology owned by a competitor. Electronic Arts has since withdrawn RenderWare from the commercial middleware market, although remnants are still used by internal developers. In mid-2006,

13664-437: Was looking to extend this to 3D image processing and, in turn, "out-and-out" 3D graphics. Adam Billyard, who served as its chief technology officer , is also credited as a co-founder. Criterion Software's 3D texture mapping and rendering programme, RenderWare , was first released in 1993 as a software library for the C programming language and was adopted by 800 companies worldwide by October 1996. The firm also provided

13786-526: Was more open-ended; players could now "drive" off the asphalt, and cut across fields to take advantage of shortcuts. Need for Speed II: Special Edition includes one extra track, extra cars, and support for Glide . The PlayStation port of NFS II also took advantage of the NeGcon controller, and the Dual Analog and DualShock controllers as well. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit added Hot Pursuit mode, where

13908-460: Was originally scheduled for an Asian release in the summer of 2009, but the game was not released at that time and it was released worldwide in 2010. The game was in public beta-testing limited to residents of Taiwan in October 2009 Need for Speed World closed its servers in July 2015. They soon after removed the ability to create new accounts for the game and began winding down their support for it. Leading up to closure, there were several "end of

14030-593: Was positively-received, the 2015 reboot and its follow-ups received more mixed reviews. In February 2020, Criterion regained oversight of the franchise, with its first release since then being 2022's Need for Speed Unbound . Meanwhile, several past entries (namely Need for Speed: Carbon , Need for Speed: Undercover , Shift , Shift 2 and Need for Speed: The Run ), with the exception of 2010's Hot Pursuit , and 2012's Need for Speed: Most Wanted , became delisted from online stores. Their respective online servers were shut down on August 31, 2021. Almost all of

14152-481: Was released as a digital download only, released in 2010. Need for Speed: World was a free-to-play MMO racing game for Windows -based PCs . It took on the gameplay style of Most Wanted and Carbon , focusing on illegal street racing, tuning and police chases, and adding classic MMO elements to the mix. World incorporated almost exact replicas of the cities of Rockport and Palmont, the cities of Most Wanted and Carbon respectively, into its map design. World

14274-547: Was released in 2008. The game had a significantly longer development cycle than previous games, taking 16 months to develop. EA ported Undercover to various mobile devices. It was the last Need for Speed game for PlayStation 2 . EA Games president Frank Gibeau stated that since sales of ProStreet did not live up to EA's projections, the franchise would go back to its "roots". However, the game received lower scores on aggregate than ProStreet . The game focused on tuning and police chases, featured over 50 cars, and took place in

14396-410: Was released on 19 November 2021. In May 2022, EA merged Codemasters subsidiary Codemasters Cheshire into Criterion Games to support efforts on the Need for Speed series as the two companies were already working together on a new title in the series for months. On 6 October 2022, the project was revealed to be Need for Speed Unbound , which utilises DICE 's proprietary Frostbite engine. Unbound

14518-569: Was released on 2 December 2022, following which five senior members of Criterion announced their departures from the studio, including the current studio GM, Matt Webster. They created Fuse Games in 2023 While Criterion was originally placed within EA Sports following EA's restructuring in early 2023, EA moved Criterion into EA Entertainment in September 2023 as to support the development of the Battlefield series. The studio will still continue to build

14640-468: Was released on December 2, 2022. Additionally, a free-to-play mobile installment released in 2015, Need for Speed: No Limits , is actively developed by Firemonkeys Studios (the developers of Real Racing 3 ). The series titles have been overseen and developed by multiple notable teams over the years, including EA Canada , EA Black Box , Slightly Mad Studios , and Ghost Games . Several Need for Speed games have been well-received critically, and

14762-466: Was shut permanently in 2011. In November 2007, co-founder and CEO David Lau-Kee made the decision to leave Electronic Arts to concentrate on advisory activities within the games industry. Adam Billyard also left Electronic Arts as CTO of EATech in 2007 to pursue other projects. On 14 June 2010, Criterion announced that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was set for release in November 2010. The software utilises

14884-477: Was used in place of Local Area Network (LAN) play. Hot Pursuit 2 was the first NFS game to use songs sung by licensed artists under the EA Trax label. Need for Speed: Underground was developed by EA Black Box and released in 2003. On PC, this was the first NFS game to require Hardware Transform and Lighting in graphics cards. Most of the new elements in Underground became defining marks of later installments in

#531468