The Need for Speed series has seen better days. Once it as a mainstay of the racing games genre, with entries such as Need For Speed Hot Pursuit, Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed, and of course, the excellent Need for Speed Underground games defining an era of arcade racing games for a generation of players. Now, the reception of the game varies wildly (but generally tends to the lower side), and the previous game in the series, despite good intentions, turned out to be underwhelming.
It was also not followed up by a new Need for Speed game right away- the first time in long time that the series had broken away from its annual release cycle. However, at their investor meeting, EA CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed that the company had a new Need for Speed game in the works for the coming year, also teasing that it would be the most impressive game in the series yet.
“We’re also excited to have a new Need for Speed title launching in FY 2018,” Wilson said (via DualShockers). “We have given the game an extended development cycle to focus on innovation, and the Need for Speed team is pushing the boundaries of action driving with what we believe is the most exciting and best looking Need for Speed game we’ve ever produced.”
Let’s just hope that they get the fundamental basics of the actual driving right, and that they don’t make boneheaded decisions such as enforcing an always online requirement- those were the missteps that did the previous game in the series in. I used to love Need for Speed growing up- I would hate to see another one of my once favorite series go away because of EA’s mismanagement.
