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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 51362, member: 636"] Electronic Arts has apparently killed off the Need for Speed franchise after years of disappointing sales numbers. Matthew Everingham from Speedhunters spilled the beans on Instagram about EA pulling funding from the car culture website. The automotive photography site has been dark since April with no fresh content hitting the web. EA bankrolled Speedhunters as part of their racing game marketing machine. The shutdown signals major trouble for the once-popular street racing series. Ghost Games butchered three consecutive Need for Speed titles between 2015 and 2019 with lackluster releases. Criterion Games and Codemasters salvaged the brand somewhat with 2022's Unbound but sales still fell short of expectations. EA brass moved Criterion over to the Battlefield 6 development team last September. The publisher clearly prioritizes their military shooter over racing games when budget decisions get made. Racing titles simply cannot match the massive audience potential that first-person shooters deliver. EA executives dream of attracting 100 million players to their next Battlefield installment while racing games struggle to find audiences. Even Forza Horizon 5 managed just 45 million players despite Game Pass availability boosting those numbers artificially. The publisher announced that Need for Speed Rivals will lose online support come October 7th. Criterion Games likely abandoned their racing project to focus entirely on Battlefield development. EA appears ready to sacrifice the Need for Speed brand rather than invest in another risky racing game venture. [/QUOTE]

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