EA has pulled a number of old games from the Need for Speed franchise. The move is to prepare for the shutdown of online services for affected addresses, which will happen in the fall.
Affected by the Need for Speed Carbon, Need for Speed Undercover, Need for Speed Change, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed, and Need for Speed The Run, launched in 2011. From now on, it can be Purchase of all games mentioned are only used on DVD for PC and consoles. Purchases are no longer possible on distribution platforms such as Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. In-game stores, if any, have also been closed.
On August 31, the online functions of affected games will be finally deactivated. From September onwards, only single player modes and functions can be used.
Change due to “the future”
The decision is made to focus onZukunft von Need for Speed“To be able to focus, the developers wrote on Reddit. The development teams have been for years.”Lots of time and emotion“When developing, publishing, and playing the games, the current number of players has made them economically unfeasible to continue necessary work in the background.
This interpretation links to reference to newer titles that can still be played online, including Need for Speed Most Wanted (2012) Rivals, Need for Speed (2015) (Test), and the smaller parts Payback and Heat. However, except for the first one, they have one thing in common: unlike the discontinued titles, they represent a qualitative degradation of the brand under Ghost Games’ sponsorship. To that extent, it appears absolutely imperative to focus on the future. EA has already set the course for that by commissioning Criterion Games Professionals to continue the series.