Burnout dev Criterion Games has officially canned its open-world extreme sports title.
Word comes by way of GameSpot, revealing that development on the untitled project first showcased in prototype form at E3 2014 has all but wrapped up as Criterion simply “aren’t pursuing it.”
In its place, the studio is shifting resources to collaborate with Star Wars Battlefront developer DICE to introduce VR support into the licensed shooter. An official statement from publisher EA reveals that, “while [Criterion] have moved on from the previous project they’ve spoken about and aren’t pursuing it, they are continuing to build new ideas and experiment with new IP for EA, in addition to continuing to collaborate with other EA studios.” Criterion Games has a history with Star Wars Battlefront after crafting the speeder bike design found on Endor.
Interestingly, soon after the unveiling of its own extreme sports title Steep, Ubisoft was reportedly waiting for Criterion’s genre mash-up to make an appearance at E3 last week. Alas, that competition has fizzled out for the meantime, with Criterion now shifting gears to double down on EA’s galaxy far, far away.
Tell us, what do you make of Criterion‘s decision to abandon its untitled sports IP in the prototype stage?
