EA Rebooting ‘Need For Speed’ Series For Next-Gen Consoles

After 22 games that have been available for various platforms, publisher Electronic Arts has decided to reboot the “Need for Speed” franchise. Simply called “Need for Speed,” the reboot will reportedly come out this fall and will be available for Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One and the PC -- so it appears that last-gen consoles won’t be getting any new “Need for Speed” games for a while.

The “Need for Speed” reboot will be updating what made the game series so popular in the first place, as EA has promised that the new game will feature tons of customizable options for cars and authentic urban car culture. A report from GameSpot has also confirmed that the racing game will have an open world as well, so it appears that the game’s setting is a giant racetrack for the player.

Developing the new “Need for Speed” game is Ghost Games, the studio responsible for “Need for Speed: Rivals,” which was a launch title for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2013. Interestingly, no new “Need for Speed” games were released in 2014, with the developer stating that the series needed to find its identity again.

According to Polygon, EA and Ghost Games decided to listen to fan feedback from the game’s official Facebook page, and to EA’s car culture community, Speedhunters. The previous developer of the “Need for Speed” series, Criterion, which also developed the “Burnout” games, suggested the idea.

The game’s focus on customizable cars, urban car culture and an open world driving experience seems to be influenced by one of the more successful iterations of the “Need for Speed” franchise, the “Need for Speed Underground 2.” The game came out in the early 2000s and was a huge hit for PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox.

EA and Ghost Games are promising fans of the games that “Need for Speed” will be a culmination of the series’ past and future, so it’s definitely a title that fans of the series should keep an eye on.