2024 is the year of Need for Speed’s 30th anniversary, and developer Criterion Games has announced plans to commemorate the occasion- though not in a way that many would have expected. The developer has revealed that it will be supporting Need for Speed Unbound, which launched in November 2022, will be getting another full year of post-launch content.
Criterion says it will be releasing an additional four volumes of new content for the open world racer. They will be released every few months, with each including at least one new mode, two new fully customizable cars, and a new Speed Pass.
In the spirit of celebrating a landmark anniversary for the franchise, this post-launch content will also be inspired by a variety of past Need for Speed titles. For instance, Volume 7, releasing between May and July, will add Drift and Drag, which is inspired by Need for Speed Underground, while Volume 8, which will arrive between August and October, will bring Cops vs. Racers, inspired by Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.
Additionally, starting with Volume 6, which will be the first of the game’s year 2 roadmap, Criterion and EA will also start offering the Premium Speed Pass, a paid battle pass that will include instant access to one of the new vehicles, its custom variants, and all of its customization options. The Premium Speed Pass will also include new customization options, while the free Speed Pass will also continue to be offered.
Additionally, you can also expect new events, weekly PvP playlists, updates for Freedrive and progression, new challenges, bug fixes, quality-of-life improvements, and more.
Criterion says Need for Speed Unbound’s second year of post-launch content will aim to deliver “the ultimate NFS experience in one place”, adding that players’ “feedback and gameplay will help shape the future of this iconic franchise.”
“We see this as a year to test and learn and understand what works best for you,” the developer writes. “Committing to an extended Unbound live service allows us to really build on feedback, which we’ll be gathering in a few ways. We’re working closely with a dedicated Player Council – a great bunch of NFS influencers, core community members, and players to understand what’s important to them and their communities. We’ll be increasing the amount of telemetry we track from the games to better understand through gameplay data what’s working for you. And we’ll look to close the feedback loop by being as transparent as possible with you, letting you know what we’ve heard and what we can and can’t do.”
In September last year, it was announced that Criterion Games was once again providing development support on the Battlefield franchise, with a core team within the studio remaining focused on the future of Need for Speed. Earlier in the year, job listings suggested the studio was working on a new open world instalment in the franchise.
In July, actress Simone Bailly – who played the unnamed partner of Sergeant Jonathan Cross in 2005’s Need for Speed: Most Wanted – put up posts on her Twitter and Instagram accounts that claimed a remake of the game was scheduled to be released in 2024, before quickly deleting the posts.
Need for Speed Unbound is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium players will be able to claim the game at no cost starting February 20. Read our review of the open world racer through here.
