Here’s What We Know About The Next Need For Speed Game

EA’s plans for Need For Speed after Unbound comes to an end leaves fans with disappointing news about the series’ future.

EA recently released the “Ultimate Collection” DLC for Unbound, which includes all the post-launch content into a single, convenient package.

While this might be great news for anyone just jumping into the game now, it’s sad news for the die-hard fans, as this is the final update Unbound will receive.

What’s Happening To Unbound?

After almost 30 years of consistent releases, Need For Speed will take its longest-ever break. The latest release in the series, Unbound, recently got its final major update (Vol.9.)

This introduced exciting new features, including cars such as the return of Razor’s iconic BMW M3 GTR, alongside some fresh JDM cars, a Most Wanted-inspired ‘Lockdown’ multiplayer mode, and the series’ first-ever motorcycle – the BMW S 1000 RR.

Unfortunately, just as things looked more promising than ever for the game, EA decided to pull the rug on future updates.

Why Is Unbound Development Cancelled?

British developer Criterion Games, known for both Need For Speed and the classic Burnout series, opted to shift focus to go “all in” on another major EA project for the time being – the next Battlefield game. (Meh.)

In 2023, most of Criterion’s team moved to Battlefield development, leaving a smaller group (nicknamed “Team Kaizen”) to handle the Need For Speed updates, and they did a fantastic job. However, even Team Kaizen is now told they must join the main Battlefield crew.

When Will The Next Need For Speed Game Arrive?

Given the realistic timelines, it looks increasingly unlikely we’ll see another Need For Speed game arrive until 2027 or 2028. Sadly, this will be the longest gap between releases in the franchise’s history.

Also, as things stand, the timing mostly depends on how long the Battlefield project takes since development on the next NFS isn’t likely to happen until that’s completed.

Thankfully, there are still future plans for the series in the works. Following the improvements made by Team Kaizen, EA’s Executive Vice President, Vince Zampella, stated, “With an increased understanding of what our players want in a Need for Speed experience, we plan to bring the franchise back in new and interesting ways.”

Many fans have called for EA to hand NFS over to Codemasters, who joined the EA family in 2021. Given their experience with arcade and sim racing in series like GRID, DiRT, Project CARS, and F1, they could bring a refreshing new approach to the series. With Criterion fully occupied with Battlefield, it certainly makes sense to us!

For now, though, we’ll have to wait and see. While the extended break might feel disappointing, it could actually benefit the series in the long run. The additional development time could give whoever takes the helm a chance to really nail what makes Need For Speed special and bring it properly into the modern era.

While you wait (quite some time) for the next game, this could be the perfect opportunity to go back over some of the past NFS games that made the series great. There are also some great new games arriving soon, such as JDM: Japanese Drift Master and the more car-mangling mayhem in Wreckfest 2, with both games due to arrive in March.

Right now, the new Tokyo Xtreme Racer reboot is proving to be a huge hit with Drifted fans, alongside the free browser-based drifting game Drift Hunters MAX.

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