The next Need for Speed game will release in 2022

Back in February this year, we stated EA’s new Need for Speed title would release before the end of its 2023 financial year – April 2023 – based on the firm’s Q3 2022 Earnings Call.

However, EA’s latest Q4 2022 Earnings Slide has revealed that their proposed new Need for Speed game is going to launch much sooner, in Financial Year 23 Q3, and thus arriving before December 31^st 2022. 

“EA SPORTS and Racing are set to grow significantly in FY23,” said Andrew Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Arts. 

“Our pipeline for this year and future years includes big, beloved, IP that we can’t wait for players to experience, including Need for Speed, Dead Space, Star Wars, The Sims, Skate, our BioWare franchises and Lord of the Rings.”

Wilson previously teased that the firm was considering adding Metaverse elements to its franchises in future, saying: “I look at the engagement that we’re seeing inside these 3D spaces that we create in and around sports and other worlds, what you see with our industry is the beginnings of what a metaverse might be.

“So what can you do in FIFA beyond playing football, what would you do in Need for Speed beyond the driving game…?”

The new game will be the first entry in the Need for Speed (NfS) franchise since 2020’s Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered, and the first all-original title in the series since 2019’s Need for Speed Heat. No firm details have been revealed yet, but Wilson’s comments are certainly intriguing.

It is set to be a busy year or two for EA in terms of racing games, mainly thanks to the company’s joint F1 22 venture with Codemasters – penned for release on the 1^st of July 2022 – plus a WRC game sometime in 2023.

Last month we revealed that Codemasters Cheshire was helping EA develop the latest NfS title alongside Guildford-based Criterion Games. With both studios responsible for high-quality driving games such as Motorstorm, Driveclub and the Burnout series, hopes are high for the new NfS. 

What would you like to see in the upcoming NfS game? Let us know in the comments below.