14 DAY TRIAL // One of the most long-running franchises in the gaming industry is Electronic Arts' racing series Need For Speed, which offered top-notch races and licensed cars that could be modified in almost any way and then compete against other ones, just as spectacular. Sadly, with the last few titles, the series began to lose some of its devoted fanbase to rivals such as Burnout Paradise or GRID, and some very ugly rumors about its future began to circulate over the Internet.
But an announcement made on Friday changed all that, as Electronic Arts’ marketing director, Keith Munro, proved everyone wrong regarding the termination of the series, stating that three games bearing the NFS brand would appear this year. Each of those titles, aimed at specific types of gamers, would start to appear soon, and all promised to deliver a great experience for any true racing fan.
Now it seems that Munro has made another statement, regarding the EA Black Box studio, which has been handling development of the NFS games for quite some time. Despite the fact that some of its employees will work on the NFS World Online title, the studio will also develop another mysterious game in the racing series.
"Black Box is currently working on a future action title in the franchise," said Munro, who declined to offer any more details. Some industry critics now believe that this future title might continue the street racing theme, which has been developed in previous titles, as the more hardcore Need For Speed: Shift will concentrate on a realistic racing experience.
While NFS fans will certainly enjoy four new titles this year, some gaming experts believe that this move is made by a pretty desperate EA, as the company isn't going through its greatest financial period, confirming that it will start exploiting its most popular franchises in order to make a quick profit.
All that's left for us to do is wait and see if these future titles will live up to the NFS brand.