EA confirms the fate of next Need for Speed game, and it’s not looking good | Gaming | Entertainment

It’s been almost five years since the last Need for Speed game, and if a comment from a recent EA exec is anything to go by, it looks like it could be a good long while before we see a new one – if we even get a new one at all.

In an interview with IGN, VP & GM of Battlefield Studios Europe, Rebecka Coutaz, swiftly curtailed any speculation about any future projects that Criterion Games might have on the go. “We are solely focused on Battlefield,” she told IGN at a 30th anniversary event for the studio, cementing the idea that the star-studded racing studio is now relegated to support for DICE and the other Battlefield Studios teams.

As if that statement wasn’t enough, IGN also reports that the Criterion logo has had a change in the studio itself. It now reportedly reads: “Criterion: a Battlefield Studio”.

Criterion first began providing support on the Battlefield series back in 2016 when it helped to ship Battlefield 1. Since then, it’s had a hand in developing content for every title in the series, even taking on entire ownership of the Firestorm battle royale game mode in Battlefield V.

It had a few projects of its own on the go during that time. In 2020, it shipped Star Wars Squadrons, a space-flight combat game with a canon storyline and an excellent multiplayer mode – it even had VR support.

There were also three Need for Speed games shipped between 2017 and 2022 in the form of Payback, Heat, and Unbound. The first two had a relatively lukewarm reception among critics, with Unbound proving a bit more popular and earning itself a 77 score on Metacritic.

Unbound is thought to have sold around 1.8 million copies since its launch, although sales were soft during its initial launch week. That total number is likely inflated by the speedy sales it saw shortly after launch with it regularly discounted on the likes of Steam and the PlayStation Store.

Despite its recent efforts, Criterion has a fantastic lineage in racing games, putting itself on the map with the Burnout games back in 2001 and eventually picking up the Need for Speed license in 2010 with Hot Pursuit.

To see its lineage disregarded is a real shame, even if its talent is going towards building one of the biggest games in EA’s catalogue.

However, for those gamers looking for the next big racing game outside of Forza Horizon, the lack of another Need for Speed game in the works will no doubt be a huge miss.