The Need For Speed franchise is one of the biggest and most successful racing game series ever.
While it has gone through peaks and valleys, the most recent original NFS game, "Heat", was a very enjoyable one and seemed to put the franchise back on track. Meanwhile 2020's remaster of Hot Pursuit showed a good level of interest in the previous titles.
Not every title though, as EA is now winding down several of the old NFS games.
Switching off the engine
On a Reddit post in r/NeedForSpeed, the Community Manager outlined that several NFS games will no longer be available for digital purchase, as EA prepares to retire the online services of some games.
The post reads: "Decisions to retire games are never made easy, but we are now shifting gears to focus on the future of Need for Speed. The development teams and operational staff have put a lot of time and passion into the development, creation, release and upkeep of the game over the years, and we love to see you play. But the number of players has come to a point where it's no longer feasible to continue the work behind the scenes required to keep [them] up and running."
The games in question are Carbon, Undercover, Shift, Shift 2: Unleashed, and The Run.
All eyes on new titles?
We already know that the planned Need For Speed 2021 game has been delayed until next year. However, the line "we are now shifting gears to focus on the future of Need For Speed." is important for everyone.
While Criterion remain the NFS studio right now, the acquisition of Codemasters and all their expertise in the space has fans calling out for the franchise to move over to them. It would seem like a match made in heaven, but not one that will happen in the short term.
Still, with new titles on the way and the potential for more remastered editions from the glory days of NFS, the franchise doesn't look to be going away soon.