A new Need For Speed game kind of has to happen soon, given the last major release was Hot Pursuit Remastered, and nothing after that, for about a year and a half. No DLC for Heat, the series’ venture in 2019, no updates to Hot Pursuit Remastered, none of that. It’s been rather quiet for this series since November 2020.
EA’s next fiscal year deadline is set for April 1st, 2023 (and no, that’s not a joke). If anyone’s working on a new title for the series, they’ll be getting help in the form of the Codemasters Cheshire team. Previously in the new Need for Speed title’s development, series regular Criterion Games was working on it, before getting pulled to support Battlefield 2042 – and we all know how that one turned out.
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 some time, and even made the more recent DIRT 5 (which did relatively alright critically, according to Metacritic), as well as making games such as the WRC FIA Rally series, the Motorstorm series, and Driveclub. Hopefully, the new Need for Speed will be in good hands, and without interruption from the higher-ups.
