In 2022, “Need for Speed: Unbound” marked the return of the series with a bold artistic direction and a veteran studio at the helm: Criterion Games. The game received generally positive reviews, but its sales fell short of expectations.
Despite everything, EA stayed the course with nine content updates spread out until the end of 2024, in an attempt to extend the life of the title. But since then, nothing. No new opus has been announced. And in 2025, the silence began to become deafening for a series which, since 1994, had never known such a break.
Why EA is putting the franchise on pause
According to a statement fromEA Games at Eurogamerthis decision is far from improvised: “As a company, it was important for us to take the time of a year to listen to the Need for Speed community and use their feedback to create content for NFS: Unbound”.
The problem is therefore not so much the lack of interest in the series, as the internal reorganization of the teams. The studio Criterionhistorically linked to the license, has been reassigned to another priority project for the publisher: Battlefield.
Criterion mobilized for a new Battlefield super-studio
To support the development of the next Battlefield, EA has grouped several of its entities around the same objective. Result: DICE, the Swedish studio in charge of Battlefield, is now supported by three other studiosincluding Criterion. Together, they now form a group called “Battlefield Studios”.
This strategic realignment naturally puts the Need for Speed franchise on hibernation, with no visibility on a possible return. Today there is no no official announcement concerning a new opus, and everything suggests that 2025 will mark the longest break ever recorded for the series.
A future still unclear, despite the promises
If EA says it wants “relaunching the franchise in new and interesting ways”no roadmap has been shared. This sentence remains the only concrete clue about the future of Need for Speed, while the competition is multiplying initiatives in the racing game sector.
In the absence of a project in development or even a teaser, fans will have to be patient. Until proven otherwise, “Unbound” could be the last episode for a long time.