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The Future of the Need For Speed Franchise Will Be Quality, EA Says

Nov 3, 2010 11:13 GMT  ·  By
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is a new step for the franchise
   Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is a new step for the franchise

EA's Need For Speed Franchise has been going through some big ups and downs lately, and now, before the release of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, the company's racing and shooter boss, Patrick Soderlund, has talked about the future of the series, and how it will be aimed at delivering a quality experience with every new game.

EA has admitted that it exploited the NFS series in the last few years, forcing the EA Black Box team in Canada to develop yearly iterations with little room to actually improve the gameplay, but now it wants to make amends.

Now, besides Black Box, other studios like Criterion Games or Slightly Mad, the latter having already launched NFS Shift, while the former now finishing off the upcoming NFS Hot Pursuit, are working on the series.

According to Soderlund, the NFS series will evolve, and benefit from multiple studios working on the brand.

"My vision for NFS is it will be a brand the consumer can enjoy on an annual basis, and he can look at that game and say, "I know this is going to be a high quality entertainment experience." That is a must for us."

He also admits that the previous games released in the series haven't exactly been up to par, but that will soon be changed.

"I'll be honest with you, if you look at some of the previous games we made in the last couple of years, we haven't been doing that. We haven't been true to those words. There's no blame on the developer there. It's unfortunate we were in a situation where a developer had to make a game in eight to 10 months. You can't make a quality experience in that time."

"What I can do is change that. Now we have multiple studios building NFS products. That will mean you'll get a slightly different touch on NFS on an annual basis, but hopefully a much higher-quality experience."

After the release of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, set to arrive on November 16 for the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii from Criterion, a new game will follow, from another developer, presumably Black Box, even if Soderlund was playing coy and didn't confirm anything.