作为战地工作室，Criterion Games 真的还是 Criterion 吗？

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In This Edition,
EA Criterion on…

• Is Criterion still Criterion?

• Working with the other studios

• The launch of Battlefield 6

I got to know EA’s Criterion studio quite well under its old regime.

The studio is best known to gamers for Burnout and Need for Speed (and titles like Black). And I got to know them when they took part in the GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards. Under the leadership of Steve Cuss and Matt Webster, the company won numerous categories, and were among the UK’s highest scoring game makers.

But in 2022, the studio changed. After the release of Need for Speed: Heat, five Criterion leaders left the business, including Cuss and Webster.

After that, Criterion pivoted away from the racing genre where it made its name, and became fully focused on the Battlefield series, which it had previously worked on in a support capacity. It now calls itself Criterion: A Battlefield Studio, and it is one of the four primary developers working on Battlefield 6, the others being DICE, Motive and Ripple Effect.

From the outside it looked like the Criterion I knew had gone. No-longer a team with its own identity and creative agency, but effectively a support studio working on someone else’s shooter franchise.

“We are not a support studio, and there is no single dominant studio,” responds Danny Isaac, senior producer at Criterion. “DICE, there’s a lot of history there from across the franchise history. We look at Motive and their experience in single-player, and Ripple Effect, a lot of that team came from DICE originally and they bring their own flavor. We worked very closely with the audio team there.

“But we still have that creative autonomy in what we’re building. Now, obviously, we have to sell it into everyone else. They don’t just leave us alone as we go. But we can stamp that Criterion flare into a lot of what we do.”

So, what exactly is that Criterion flare?

“It’s the Criterion fingerprint on particular missions: spectacle, minute-to-minute gameplay feel, pace, and controlled chaos,” answers director of operations Amy Pejic. “Those elements feel very Criterion, and that’s what we brought to Battlefield 6.”

Rebecka Coutaz, who is VP and general manager of the European Battlefield studios, adds: “It’s the moment-to-moment gameplay, instant reward, intensity, speed, and adrenaline. You can tell immediately.”

She continues: “I can immediately see when I play Battlefield 6 what team has created what. You see the soul and the strengths of each team.”

“I can immediately see when I play Battlefield 6 what team has created what”

In terms of audience, Battlefield is clearly a much larger series than Need for Speed. But does being one part of a larger production offer the same satisfaction as the primary creator of a smaller one?

“A different kind of satisfaction,” Pejic says.

Producer Stefan Wittelsbürger adds: “Satisfaction comes from having a semblance of autonomy, being empowered to make decisions and own your area. Battlefield is a mammoth game, it’s got so many moving parts and things to focus on, that it requires a big team to deliver it. Criterion is a critical pillar of that organization, and we deliver experiences that we own, that we control, and the satisfaction comes from seeing that reflected in the product.

“We work closely with the other studios and leadership. We work together with a clear vision, which makes decision-making easier and faster, and that’s a great way to work. There’s a clear through line on what makes Battlefield great. Everybody is on the same page. That makes owning your area easy, so you find satisfaction in your job.

Pejic again: “Satisfaction comes from working really hard to see something end up in the hands of players and having them love it. Satisfaction is derived from a bunch of people coming to do something that’s really great. Whether that’s autonomous or part of a larger team, the end result is the thing that really resonates. Having players play the thing that you made is the most wonderful feeling.”

Wittelsbürger quips: “And then you go to Reddit.”

All four Battlefield 6 studios are in different countries. Criterion is in the UK, DICE hails from Sweden, Motive is in Canada and Ripple Effect is based in Los Angeles. According to our interviewees, all four studios are equal. So, I was fascinated by how that works, especially given the time difference between the European and North American teams.

“Part of it is making sure development makes sense where it happens,” Pejic answers. “You try to ensure some kind-of regionality in feature development, so you don’t have as much cross-time-zone work. But you still have to collaborate. We have tools and mechanisms called ‘battle-ready ways of working.’ We look at our hours in our day and make sure that meetings happen during key collaboration times, and that meetings for [just] one region don’t happen during those times. We are really intentional with the way we meet. We’ve optimized the playtest time to ensure everyone can take part. It’s about coming together at the right moment and maintaining consistency in terms of ‘definitions of done’ and success.

“It’s challenging, but we try and find those throughlines and consistencies and ideal ways of working where we look to collaborate and make sure we’re heading in the right direction.”

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Wittelsbürger continues: “Strong written communication is critical. We have chat channels to ensure we’re up-to-date and hand over at the end of our day and starts of their’s. You embrace the time-zone difference and work with it. There’s travel, too. We believe in connecting in person with teams. The eight-hour difference with LA is the biggest gap, but it’s doable. Shared vision and common denominators are what bring us together, and we know we have to deliver.”

Trying to maintain the unique strengths of four different studios with their own cultures and histories, while making sure they create a coherent whole, sounds like quite the challenge.

“DICE could never have pulled this one off as the only studio at this scale,” Coutez says. “There was a very clear vision of what Battlefield 6 should be, the best Battlefield ever, and bringing together four world-class studios… it’s an incredible endeavor. Was it difficult, was it hard? Of course. But was it satisfying when we launched? Of course.”

She concludes: “Four studios, but one team. That’s the way we work. Each studio brings its own and identity. Criterion has been around for 30 years. It’s been developing Black, Burnout and Need for Speed, and been a partner on other Battlefield games. So, of course, Criterion will have its own perspective. Of course, Motive, which was developing Dead Space, will come with a different perspective. Of course, Ripple Effect will come with a different perspective. That is the power behind the way we work. My role is ensuring DICE and Criterion thrive in their own identity, and their own unique cultures, within this global ‘one team, one game’ spirit.”