Need for Speed: Rivals’ online servers shutting down in October

EA has quietly announced that Need for Speed: Rivals will no longer be playable online from October.

According to EA’s Online Server Shutdown page, Need for Speed: Rivals’ online servers will shut down on 7th October 2025. EA currently only lists the PS4 and Xbox One versions, so it’s unclear whether the servers will also be shut down for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions.

In May 2021, Need for Speed Carbon, Need for Speed Undercover, Need for Speed Shift, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed and Need for Speed The Run were delisted from digital stores. It’s not yet clear if Rivals will also be delisted when the servers shut down.

Online multiplayer was a core aspect of Need for Speed: Rivals. Its much-touted ‘AllDrive’ system seamlessly merged single-player and online multiplayer, allowing up to six players to enter co-operative or competitive matches within the single-player campaign.

Thankfully, Need for Speed: Rivals will still be playable offline after the servers are shut down, with AI drivers replacing online players.

However, this isn’t the case for the 2015 Need for Speed reboot, which currently requires an online connection to play the single-player campaign. While the servers are still active at the time of writing, EA has yet to announce if it will receive an offline patch when the servers are eventually closed.

Released in 2013, Need for Speed: Rivals was the first entry in the franchise developed by EA’s Ghost Games, taking over from Criterion Games, which helmed Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and the 2012 Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Conversely, the online multiplayer servers are still active in the latter title at the time of writing.

A launch title for the eighth-generation PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, Rivals mixed Hot Pursuit’s cop chases and exotic supercars with car customisation.

Ghost Games went on to develop three more entries, including the 2015 Need for Speed reboot, Need for Speed Payback in 2017 and Need for Speed Heat in 2019.

Criterion then took over the reins, releasing the series’ last entry, Need for Speed Unbound, in 2022.

While no new Need for Speed games have been announced, with Criterion working on the next Battlefield game, EA teased last year that the series will return in “new and interesting” ways.