Electronic Arts has reportedly shelved the Need for Speed franchise, according to Matthew Everingham, a photojournalist and contributor on the car culture website Speedhunters.
Speaking on Instagram, Everingham revealed that the Speedhunters website, which is backed by the publishing behemoth, is now on “ice” as Need for Speed has been “shelved” by EA, which means the site no longer has funding. The site hasn’t been updated in quite a while, with its store having also been taken offline.
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Earlier this year, Vince Zampella revealed that the Need for Speed franchise was planned to come back at some point, although developer Criterion was for the time being helping out on the Battlefield franchise. For now, a new Need for Speed game remains unannounced.
Back in April 2023, Criterion hinted that it was actively working on the next Need for Speed game (2022’s Need for Speed Unbound is to date the latest entry), with a job listing revealing the studio is “now challenging the conventions of the racing genre to take the Need for Speed franchise to the next level…”
Need for Speed is as old as the PlayStation hardware brand, with the first instalment, The Need for Speed, arriving for 3DO back in December 1994 — the same month the original PlayStation launched in Japan. However, the PSOne version of the racer wouldn’t hit Sony’s console until 1996.