Funky Playing

The journey of the popular racing game series ‘Need for Speed’ may finally be over. Titles like ‘Underground 2’ (2004) and ‘Most Wanted’ (2005) are still immortal in the hearts of gamers. But over time, this legendary series has lost its momentum.

The latest installment, ‘Unbound’ (released in 2022), failed to meet expectations. While it received decent scores on Metacritic, user ratings were disappointing. Since then, there has been a kind of silence surrounding the series.

Recently, EA has stopped funding Speedhunters, the fan site it previously supported. One of the site’s writers, Matthew Everingham, stated, “Need for Speed is now on the shelf”—meaning it’s effectively shut down.

Meanwhile, Criterion, the studio behind Need for Speed, has now shifted its focus to the Battlefield series — whose future also remains uncertain.

The series that once thrilled us with adrenaline-pumping speed may have finally come to a stop.

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