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Need for Speed: Unbound is selling pretty well, but with this good news, Criterion Games is also meeting bad news: five executives who have held their positions for many years have left the studio at once. Some of them have worked at Criterion for almost a quarter of a century:
- Matt Webster, vice president and general manager, left following 23 years;
- Pete Lake, executive producer, has been involved in projects for 26 years;
- Andrey Shayers, Senior Technical Director, has been in the position for 16 years;
- Alan McDarimant, head of the studio department, served 17 years;
- Steve Uphill, Head of Content, has been with Criterion for 10 years.
All five left the studio to “explore new opportunities outside of EA.” Needs for Speed is now executive produced by Charity Joy, who has moved from the series UFC from EA. Jeff Smith, formerly of the series Dirt and Grid at Codemasters, he is Senior Director of Product Development at Needs for Speed.
It’s not unusual for developers to leave the studio following a big game is released, but with so many Criterion veterans leaving, it will take time to recover. It also fuels rumors that Need for Speed Unbound’s launch isn’t as successful as EA might hope, which launched sales on Xbox with a 40% discount.