Inevitability that the most recent significant release was Hot Pursuit Remastered and that there has been no new Need For Speed game for about a year and a half, a new Need For Speed game is almost a given. There will be no DLC for Heat, the franchise’ first foray into 2019; there will be no updates to Hot Pursuit Remastered; there will be nothing. Since November 2020, there has been a noticeable lack of activity in this series.
The deadline for the next fiscal year at EA has been set for April 1, 2023 (and no, that is not a joke). Those working on a new title for the series will be assisted by the Codemasters Cheshire development team, which is based in the United Kingdom. Before being dragged away to promote Battlefield 2042, series regular Criterion Games was hard at work on the new Need for Speed game. We all know how that one ended out, right?
After that disaster was released, Need for Speed has become a priority once again. In a LinkedIn post pictured below, the Senior Recruiter at EA, Pete Johnson, explained that the team is looking for “an experienced Producer to deliver the future of Need for Speed.” You can view the entire post below.
Codemasters Cheshire comes in here, as they’re fully partnering with Criterion to make it happen, and hopefully, it works out. Johnson rounds the post out by saying
Codemasters Cheshire will come together with Criterion Games to create the future of Need for Speed. Starting with the next Need for Speed title then extending to future-facing initiatives, Codemasters Cheshire will work with Criterion on creative, technical and feature execution in service to the vision outlined in the Need for Speed strategy.
Codemasters Cheshire has been working on racing games for quite some time, and has even produced the more recent DIRT 5 (which, according to Metacritic, received generally favorable reviews), as well as titles based on the World Rally Championship, the Motorstorm series, and Driveclub. Hopefully, the new Need for Speed will be in excellent hands, and that it will not be interrupted by the upper-level management.