Latest news with #MatthewEveringham
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Need for Speed franchise may have been cancelled by EA, and this game could be the reason why
Electronic Arts has reportedly put its long-running Need for Speed franchise on indefinite hiatus, according to claims from industry insiders and contributors to the EA-funded car culture website Speedhunters. The decision comes as developer Criterion Games has been fully reassigned to work on the Battlefield series . Matthew Everingham, a photographer and longtime contributor to Speedhunters, broke the news on Instagram, stating: "Speedhunters is on ice. EA shelved Need For Speed, and that means no more funding for the site. Grateful for everything — the trips, the stories, the lifelong mates." The announcement has sent shockwaves through the racing game community, as Need for Speed has been a cornerstone franchise for EA since 1994. The series' most recent entry, Need for Speed Unbound, was released in December 2022 but failed to achieve commercial success despite initial promise. Speedhunters, which has been closely affiliated with Need for Speed since 2008, hasn't published new content since April 2025. The site's store has gone offline, and its social media accounts now display blackout profile pictures, further supporting claims of the shutdown. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like An engineer reveals: One simple trick to get internet without a subscription Techno Mag Learn More Undo Criterion's Battlefield assignment leaves racing fans in the dust The writing appeared on the wall earlier this year when EA announced that Criterion Games, the studio behind Need for Speed Unbound, would be joining the multi-studio effort to revive the Battlefield franchise following the poor reception of Battlefield 2042. Former Speedhunters contributor Paddy McGrath provided insight into the site's precarious position in a Reddit comment: "There were so many times that Speedhunters was circling the drain over the last decade. We rarely knew ahead of time if our contracts would be renewed each year. A lot of brilliant and dedicated people put a lot of work in to keep things going as long as it did." EA has not issued an official statement regarding the franchise's future, though the company recently announced that Need for Speed Rivals' online servers will shut down on October 7, 2025. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Metro
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Need For Speed 'shelved' by EA as Forza Horizon 5 PS5 sales hit 2 million
EA's plans for Need For Speed seem to have been put in hold but Forza Horizon 5 has proven there's still a strong appetite for racing games. Arcade racing series Need For Speed was once a juggernaut franchise for EA, with its best-selling entry, 2005's Need For Speed: Most Wanted, selling over 16 million copies worldwide. The popularity of the Fast & Furious films, at around the same time, no doubt contributed to some degree, as the Need For Speed games pivoted from Hot Pursuit to street racing, with 2003's Need For Speed Underground debuting two years after the first film came out. However, while the Fast & Furious films continue to be box office juggernauts, Need For Speed's popularity has nosedived over the past decade. The last game was 2022's Need For Speed Unbound, developed by Criterion, which was a financial failure. There have been rumbles of another Need For Speed being in development at Criterion, most recently in February last year, but it seems EA has put those plans on hold. According to photojournalist Matthew Everingham, who was a contributor to an EA-backed car culture website called Speedhunters, the developer has pulled its funding for the site because it has 'shelved' Need For Speed. 'Speedhunters is on ice,' an Instagram post from Everingham reads. 'EA shelved Need For Speed, and that means no more funding for the site. Grateful for everything – the trips, the stories, the lifelong mates. I'm still shooting, just shifting gears into more video.' Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. The Need For Speed IP is listed as an 'entertainment partner' on the Speedhunters website, which is described as an 'international collective of photographers, writers, and drivers with a shared passion for uncovering the world's most exciting car culture stories'. GameCentral has reached out to EA for comment. If Need For Speed has been shelved, this might be due to Criterion's commitments on the next Battlefield. Criterion is one of four studios working on EA's plans for a 'connected Battlefield universe', alongside DICE, Ripple Effect, and EA Motive. EA announced it had moved the 'majority' of Criterion staff onto Battlefield in 2023, but a blog post at the time claimed 'work will also continue on what's next for Need For Speed' at the developer. Earlier this year, EA laid off up to 400 staff across various studios, so it's possible Need For Speed has been caught in the crossfire as it prioritises Battlefield. It seems racing games in general have been knocked down EA's priority list, after the company ended its partnership with the World Rally Championship in May this year. 'For now, we are pausing development plans on future rally titles,' EA said at the time. Presumably EA feels racing games no longer attract the audience they once did, but there's no obvious reason why they shouldn't, as Microsoft has proven with the Forza Horizon franchise. More Trending Open world arcade racer Forza Horizon 5 has sold two million copies in one month on PlayStation 5, according to the LinkedIn profile of a former game designer at Turn 10 Studios (as spotted on ResetEra). This is particularly impressive considering the original game came out on Xbox Series X/S and PC almost four years ago, in November 2021. At the same time though, the more serious Forza Motorsport was a sales disappointment for Microsoft and developer Turn 10 was badly hit by company wide layoffs earlier this month. But Need For Speed has rarely been a serious racing game, so the problem here seems to be with EA, not changing consumer tastes. EA even has a back-up franchise to fall back on, in Criterion's Burnout series, but there seems even less chance of that returning in the short term. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Xbox handheld prices accidentally leaked by Asus and they're super expensive MORE: Games Inbox: What is the hardest game on PS5? MORE: Patapon 1+2 Replay review – a PSP classic comes to Nintendo Switch
Engadget
13-07-2025
- Automotive
- Engadget
EA is reportedly hitting the brakes on the Need for Speed franchise
The Need for Speed franchise could be making its last laps — at least for the time being. Matthew Everingham, a photographer who frequently contributed to car culture website Speedhunters , said in social media posts that Electronic Arts has "shelved Need for Speed" and is "quietly parking" the series. Speedhunters , which was funded by EA and was last updated in April of this year, will also reportedly cease operations for now. EA hasn't released an official statement on the fate of the Need for Speed franchise, but several internal decisions point to an uncertain future. Earlier this month, the publisher announced that it would shut down online servers for the cult classic Need for Speed Rivals on October 7. Before that, the developer behind Need for Speed, Criterion Games, shifted most of its employees to focus on the Battlefield franchise, leaving only a "core group" to continue working on the racing series in 2023. However, Battlefield head Vince Zampella told EuroGamer earlier this year that the rest of that Need for Speed team would be "joining their colleagues working on Battlefield." The longstanding franchise dates back to 1994 when the first title, The Need for Speed , was released on the original PlayStation and Sega Saturn consoles. Since then, the series pumped out more than 20 games, with the most recent being Need for Speed Unbound. Released in December 2022, the latest title in the franchise is currently sitting at a Mixed rating with more than 40,000 reviews on Steam.
