It started in September, when EA announced that the company would be shifting Need For Speed devs over to Battlefield. Understandably, this doesn't sound like good news for the racing franchise.
Criterion, who would usually helm racing games for EA were moved over to Battlefield, leaving only a skeleton crew working on the latest Need For Speed title. This put fans in a panic, fearing the worst. It wasn't long before a hashtag appeared across social media saying #WeWantNFS.
A new Need For Speed is definitely Most Wanted
Details remain scant as EA hasn't commented on the franchise since and, with Battlefield 2042 recently seeing a huge increase in concurrent players, it's unlikely the publisher will hold back on the shooter to free up the team. The "We Want NFS" collective of fans will continue to make noise, but it seems that EA just isn't focused on the racing genre any longer. Or, at least for now, as they try to recoup from Battlefield's losses.
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Right now, there's not a huge amount of competition in the racing genre as Codemasters was acquired by EA before canning the next installment of Project Cars and urging this team to focus on the DiRT series, which is still some way off.
It seems the "We Want NFS" movement was started by YouTuber 'Korrmotive' and since then fans have kept chiming in to try to remind EA that the franchise exists. It doesn't help that NFS: Unbound, the last game to release, did so to a very lukewarm reception. Although, EA didn't exactly pull out the stops to advertise the game.
Of course, never say never, there is at least a team on the next game, even if it's a small one and until we hear otherwise, it'll come out at some point soon. Let's keep our fingers crossed and our voices loud.
Featured Image Credit: EATopics: Need For Speed