For the longest time, EA’s Need for Speed series of racing games was an annual fixture. Going all the way back to 2002 and the release of EA’s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, there has been a new Need for Speed game every year. The trend was finally broken last year, which was the firs time in over a decade that there was not a new Need for Speed game on the market. But everyone assumed that things would go back to business with this year’s Need for Speed reboot, and that it would kick off a new cycle of annual sequels.
But apparently, that’s not the case.
I don’t know if it will be, it’s an interesting question,” EA COO Peter Moore told MCVUK in an interview.
“We will see how this game goes. You can only bring it out annually if you can come up with real fresh ideas. It is the same thing we’ve been going through with golf.
“It is golf… is there enough innovation and creativity that you can go in there with and do something different every year?”
EA actually exercising restraint with its brands is most interesting for me to see. Let’s hope this kind of longer development cycle actually benefits the games as well.