14 DAY TRIAL // The development of a new title in the long-running Need for Speed series has been halted at the Ghosts Games studio after it was hit with lay-offs, although the game creation process might be restarted at a later date.
The rumor comes from inside anonymous sources that have talked to Polygon, who are saying that publisher Electronic Arts has dismissed a number of contractors working on the game.
At the same time, members of the studio staff have been given the choice of either taking compensation to leave or of staying at Ghosts Games in order to work on a new Battlefield experience with the team at Visceral Studios.
It’s unclear how many people are still working at Ghosts Games and whether there are plans to shut down the studio altogether in the coming months.
Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry, who were both founders of the company, have left earlier this year in order to create their own company and work on new titles.
Electronic Arts has not offered any official comment on the layoffs or on the fact that a new Need for Speed title was in development.
A new studio might take over the development of the racing game, but the project might also be entirely scrapped in order to allow a new team to create a fresh title from scratch.
In 2013, Electronic Arts announced that Criterion Games was no longer working on Need for Speed because it was working on a new game universe, which has not received any official details so far.
Ghost Games was set to be in charge of the franchise for the foreseeable future after the launch of Rivals.
The title failed to generate the commercial or critical success that Electronic Arts was expecting and the entire franchise might be rebooted in the near future.