EA pulls five old Need for Speed games from digital stores
Several older Need for Speed games will be pulled from digital stores on Monday, May 31. That is what publisher Electronic Arts says. The in-game stores will close on the same date, and the online aspects of the games will be discontinued in August.
These include Need for Speed: Carbon, Need for Speed: Undercover, Need for Speed: Shift and Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed, community manager Max Myrus said on Reddit. The latest Need for Speed game to be retired is Need for Speed: The Run from 2011. As of Monday, May 31, users will no longer be able to purchase these games digitally.
According to the community manager, this is because the online aspects of these five games will be discontinued on August 31. “Until that date, you can still play and race online against your friends,” reports Myrus. From September 1, players will still be able to play the games offline.
“Decisions to retire games are never easy, but we are now switching to focus on the future of Need for Speed,” the community manager wrote. “The development teams have put a lot of time and passion into developing and maintaining these games over the years. However, the number of players has reached a point where it is no longer feasible to continue the work required to keep games running.”
Since the release of Need for Speed: The Run, EA has released several other games in the franchise: Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012), Need for Speed: Rivals, Need for Speed: (2015), Need for Speed: Payback and Need for Speed: Heat. The company also previously released a remaster of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Those games are still for sale in digital stores and the online aspects of those games will also remain available.
Electronic Arts will hold an EA Play Live event on July 22, where it will showcase various games. A new Need for Speed game is not expected as developer Criterion is currently working on the next Battlefield game. That Battlefield game is expected during the livestream. EA may also show new images of Dragon Age 4, a game that the company has already teased several times.
Initially, EA was supposed to release a new Need for Speed title before March 2022, but the company previously announced that it has been delayed by a year due to Battlefield development work. The next game in the franchise should therefore be released before March 2023.
Need for Speed: The Run is the most recent game in the franchise to retire