Electronic Arts To Delist A Handful Of Legacy Need For Speed Titles This Year

As many are familiar, the Need for Speed series published by Electronic Arts spans across a platitude of systems for more than two decades now. Especially with the release of Need for Speed Heat in 2019, the series now lives beyond a quarter of a century old now. But, while the franchise continues to earn its stripes, the previous titles of before are inevitable to be lost in time after being online for so long.

Specifically, five Need for Speed titles in total are being delisted from respected digital store and any online capabilities will be severed following the decision: Need for Speed Carbon, Need for Speed Undercover, Need for Speed Shift, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed and Need for Speed The Run. On May 31, the option to access in-game stores were already closed alongside access to purchase aforementioned titles.

This is in preparation for the retirement of the online services for these titles which will happen on August 31st 2021. Until that date, you will be able to play and race your friends (and rivals) online. From September 1st 2021 onwards, you can still play the games and use the respective offline features of these titles.

Decisions to retire games are never made easy, but we are now shifting gears to focus on the future of Need for Speed. The development teams and operational staff have put a lot of time and passion into the development, creation, release and upkeep of the game over the years, and we love to see you play. 

But the number of players has come to a point where it’s no longer feasible to continue the work behind the scenes required to keep Need for Speed Carbon, Need for Speed Undercover, Need for Speed Shift, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed and Need for Speed The Run up and running. We hope you have gotten many victories, satisfying drifts, moments of friendly rivalry, and hours of joy over the last few years out of these games.

Of course, Criterion Games and the greater Electronic Arts is still ambitious to continue offering new releases as time unravels. Currently, the developer is occupied with assisting development for this year’s Battlefield release. However, publisher CEO Andrew Wilson discloses the firm’s dedication to the franchise still remains intact. “Need for Speed will absolutely be a meaningful part of our future.”

Previously, we witnessed a similar fate apply to Ubisoft legacy titles as well. In that, games such as Rainbow Six Vegas, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Ghost Recon Future Soldier are just a few that faced the same outcome as well. You can read the full report by heading here.

Are you upset by the recent announcement?

Source: r/needforspeed