Summary
TheNeed for Speedseries will continue, developer Criterion Games has pledged. However, the Electronic Arts-owned studio also suggested that the nextNeed for Speedgame is still a long way off.
BetweenNFS 2(1997) andNFS Rivals(2013), theNeed for Speedseriesconsistently received annual installments. Four new mainline entries were released over the next 11 years, in addition to one mobile game—Firemonkeys Studios’NFS: No Limits, which debuted in 2015.
The 2022Need for Speed Unboundis still the latest entry in the franchise, with its sequel being nowhere in sight. While the series appears to have lost some steam in terms of release pace, it still has a future. Developer Criterion Games said as much in a recent statement toEurogamer, pledging that the franchise isn’t dead. And though anotherNeed for Speedgame will materialize eventually, the Guildford, UK-based studio currently has different priorities.
NFS Developer Is Currently Focused on the Next Battlefield Game
“TheNeed for Speedteam at Criterion are joining their colleagues working onBattlefield,” a company spokesperson told Eurogamer.Criterion was already involved in the development ofBattlefield 2042, joining the project as a support studio in early 2021, which resulted inNeed for Speed Unboundbeing pushed back to 2022. It played a similar role in the development ofBattlefield 5(2018) andBattlefield 1(2016). However, it would appear that the nextBattlefieldgame is its sole priority this time around, or at least became its sole focus after the studio ended support forNeed for Speed Unboundin late 2024.
The Need for Speed team at Criterion are joining their colleagues working on Battlefield.
Next Need for Speed Game Might Not Arrive Until 2030s
Given this present state of affairs, it would appear that the nextNeed for Speedgame is still ways off. The early February 2025announcement of the Battlefield Labs community testing programdescribed the current state of the nextBattlefieldgame as a “pre-alpha.” This label suggests that the shooter could be at least several more years away from hitting the market. Since contemporary AAA game development cycles are around five years long on average, and in light of Criterion’s new hint that the nextNeed for Speedgame won’t enter active production until the upcomingBattlefieldtitle is out,NFSfans may end up having to wait until the early 2030s for a new series entry.
Alternatively, EA could task a different studio with work on a newNeed for Speedgame in the meantime. Although this wouldn’t be the first time that the series switched developers, EA might struggle to find a company that could match Criterion’s expertise with the racing genre, making such a move less likely. Either way, December 2025 will mark the start of the longest gap between twoNeed for Speedgames since the franchise began in 1994.
