EA is reportedly hitting the brakes on the Want for Pace franchise

The Want for Pace franchise may very well be making its final laps — not less than in the intervening time. Matthew Everingham, a photographer who often contributed to automotive tradition web site Speedhunters, mentioned in social media posts that Digital Arts has “shelved Need for Speed” and is “quietly parking” the collection. Speedhunters, which was funded by EA and was final up to date in April of this 12 months, may even reportedly stop operations for now.

EA hasn’t launched an official assertion on the destiny of the Want for Pace franchise, however a number of inner choices level to an unsure future. Earlier this month, the writer introduced that it will shut down on-line servers for the cult traditional Want for Pace Rivals on October 7. Earlier than that, the developer behind Want for Pace, Criterion Video games, shifted most of its workers to deal with the Battlefield franchise, leaving solely a “core group” to proceed engaged on the racing collection in 2023. Nevertheless, Battlefield head Vince Zampella advised EuroGamer earlier this 12 months that the remainder of that Want for Pace staff can be “becoming a member of their colleagues engaged on Battlefield.”

The longstanding franchise dates again to 1994 when the primary title, The Want for Pace, was launched on the unique PlayStation and Sega Saturn consoles. Since then, the collection pumped out greater than 20 video games, with the latest being Want for Pace Unbound. Launched in December 2022, the most recent title within the franchise is presently sitting at a Mixed rating with greater than 40,000 evaluations on Steam.