Need for Speed Cut? Part 2

[Bojan]

Joystiq reports that the recent rumour about EA cutting NFS series may not be true after all, but instead EA will shut down Blackbox, the studio that has been developing NFS games since Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 for PlayStation2, and that one of the next games in the series will be developed by Criterion, the developer behind Burnout games. Additionally the three teams currently developing NFS games will be joined into one and drastically downsized leading into less NFS releases.
Now all this has not been confirmed by EA, but we can expect an official response this week.

Read the whole article here.

[2furio]

This could be one of the best NFS news I've heard in years. Burnout has been well-received by people so it will be interesting to see in what direction Criterion will take it. This also means we won't get an NFS game every freaking year with one team devoted to making a proper, top quality game. This is definitely interesting and I can't wait for an official announcement from EA.

[prince1142003]

So no more Blackbox? That doesn't necessarily mean that different people will be working on NFS, which also doesn't necessarily mean we can expect any better.

Downsizing: a sign of the drastic economic times. The good: more time spent on each NFS as there'll be less. The bad: who knows how the global depression and where it's headed will affect the development of the NFS series.

I wonder how this will affect NFS 2010?

[baumaxx1]

Doesn't sound too bad. More focus on it which is good. Hopefully the team will be a bit bigger, production times will be longer and they can make something ore interesting. I think NFS just needs better AI, GRID style, more variety in it's races... because sprint checkpoint and circuit are all similar anyway.

[TONTO89]

lol I hope they don't incorporate the handling from burnout into NFS... not that it was much worse in terms of arcadeish-ness than Undercover. burnout handling works for burnout but not for NFS lol

[baumaxx1]

Why would they do that? No 2 racers have the exact same physics anyway.

[GT3x24x7]

.. the latest installment in the supposedly canceled series, Need for Speed: Undercover, currently holds a Metacritic rating of 65 -- which also happens to be the exact number of people who purchased the game.

lolworthy.

[elie8]

As long as they are not ending the series, i'm totally fine !!!! I hope that criterion will do a better job in creating a so called "better NFS"!!

[SLJ]

o well all games will hv the good and the bad. let's just hope that when they merge they will create a game that will beat the other racing franchise.

[oumysoft]

I'm a bit sceptical of this move.
If the team that brought Undercover,ProStreet and Carbon is the same team that brought Hot Pursuit 2 (PS2), Underground and Most Wanted, then they are a talented team but the management could be bad.

Dont get me wrong Criterion is a very good company but I could see this goin the same way Tomb Raider games goin
TR moved from Core Des to Crystal Dyn and made a brilliant game (Legend) but the next one wasnt as impressive imo(Underworld)
I could see an impressive Need for Speed (from this move) but then it becomes meh again.

The only logical way forward if for the team to take a break from NFS and do another project (come back to it later on)
And rather then make it yearly follow the same stratigy as other racing game series and build a briliant game every 2-3 years

Thats my take anyway

[krazyammo]

This is an interesting move from EA. But they shouldn't use the physics from Burnout in NFS. It's made for Burnout. But either way we'll get a high quality game. I'll be waiting for the official response from EA.

[Hydro_PT]

Well, it's a good new. Although I would still prefer Codemasters, but ok. NFS needs a new game engine, and a lot of work. I prefer less NFS games, but top quality NFS games. I hope we can get that...

[J-J Studios]

Well, good to hear that (probably) there will be less NFS, which will (probably again) mean better quality. But isn't it possible that BlackBox just ran out of creativity? I mean the real stories were from the earlier NFS's, and then I'm talking about UG2 for example, which was brilliant I think.

[Nitrodemon McLaren]

For one, it's good that we won't be getting a yearly NFS title - more development time.

I just hope they won't be using the Burnout engine.

[prince1142003]

EA is downsizing. That's a confirmed fact. This means shutting down studios killing franchises, and releasing less products every year. How do either of those imply a better NFS, or for that matter longer development time?

[Strafer]

Black 2?

[DriftingFan]

just keep the nfs games coming

[Carcrazy]

EA is downsizing. That's a confirmed fact. This means shutting down studios killing franchises, and releasing less products every year. How do either of those imply a better NFS, or for that matter longer development time?

Thank you... besides, development time doesn't matter as much as you think (in your mind, - although you may not realize it.) Undercover had two years under the hood (feel free to correct, but i believed it was started around the same time as PS,) it's time between titles... despite the longer development time you still classified it as being poor for a lack of, because it was another yearly release.

[race_invader]

Carcrazy is right.. Undercover was sort of getting built when pro street was released or being worked on. How? well.. Look at the files they left the custom seats and other things.

[mean2u]

The Burnout franchise is home to some of my favorite racing games, I can't wait to see what they can do to revive the NFS series!

[Andre_online]

It's only a rumour - nothing can be confirmed. You guys are so hyped up already?

[korge]

YOU'RRRREEEE FIRED!!!

[prince1142003]

Isn't that phrase copyrighted by Donald Trump?

[Andre_online]

The Apprentice. Yup! Something of which EA should consider doing to some of their creative directors..

[reputated]

well just like maggi Q says-
it's all gonna come crashing down.