Ghost Games

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Ghost Games
Subsidiary of Electronic Arts
Founded 2011
Headquarters Gothenburg, Sweden (Ghost Games)
Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom (Ghost Games UK)
Bucharest, Romania (Ghost Games Romania)
Key people
 Marcus Nilsson
Products Need for Speed (2013-present)
Number of employees
 65+[1]
Parent Electronic Arts
Website ghostgames.com

Ghost Games (formerly EA Gothenburg) is a video game developer owned by Electronic Arts (EA) located in Sweden, the UK (Ghost Games UK), and Romania (Ghost Games Romania). The studio is currently focused on Need for Speed games using the Frostbite 3 game engine. 80% of British developer Criterion Games staff (who have produced previous Need for Speed titles and assisted Ghost in the development of Need for Speed Rivals) moved to Ghost Games UK to help grow the studio.

History

EA already formed the studio in 2011, EA Gothenburg. Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, it was reported that the studio would focus on development of games using the Frostbite game engine.[2] Also reported was that the studio was developing a game "in the Need For Speed franchise".[3] According to the CVs of employees, much of the studio's staff had worked previously on major racing titles, including Forza Horizon, Need for Speed: The Run, Project Gotham Racing and Race Pro.[4]

On 22 October 2012, the series main developer Criterion confirmed that EA Gothenburg was working on a title in the Need for Speed franchise, but did not reveal the level of involvement or when the title would be released.[5]

On 15 November 2012, EA Gothenburg was re-branded as Ghost Games. Ghost's website went live around the same time and called for potential staff to apply for a range of open positions. Ghost is headed up by former DICE executive producer Marcus Nilsson, who previously led development on games including Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Battlefield 2142 and Shift 2: Unleashed.[6]

On 23 May 2013, EA confirmed their next Need for Speed game, Rivals, with a teaser trailer, following marketing material tease days before. It was also confirmed that Rivals was in the works at EA's Swedish games developer Ghost Games in partnership with Criterion Games. Also, Ghost Games will be the main developer of all future installments in the Need for Speed franchise starting from 2013.[7]

On 1 February 2014, multiple sources confirmed that studio-wide layoffs had occurred at Ghost Games UK (ex-Criterion Games) - the UK branch of Ghost Games.[8] The same sources also confirmed that an unannounced Need for Speed title had been put on hold. Developers working with the studio under contract were immediately let go, while full-time employees were told to either take severance pay and leave the company, or to join the team working on Visceral Games's Battlefield spinoff, Battlefield Hardline, due for release the following year.[9] In 2014, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson announced that there would not be a new Need for Speed game that year, making it the first year since 2001 that a Need for Speed game was not released.[10] The next Need for Speed game developed by Ghost is a reboot of the series, which received mixed reviews upon release.[11]

As of January 2016, Ghost Games has begun development on the next Need for Speed game. This game will be released in 2017[12]

Games developed

Year Video Game Platform Notes
2013 Need for Speed Rivals Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One Additional work by Criterion Games
2015 Need for Speed Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Franchise-reboot
2017 Untitled Need for Speed game TBA

References

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External link

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