EA reportedly shelves Need For Speed completely to focus on other projects

Reports suggest that Electronic Arts has put the Need For Speed franchise on indefinite hold as it continues to pursue higher profitability across its gaming portfolio. This development was confirmed by the car culture website, Speedhunters, which was funded by EA as part of its Need for Speed-centric endeavors and is now “on ice”.

On Instagram, Speedhunters' longtime contributor, Matthew Everingham, announced that EA is shelving the Need for Speed franchise, which consequently cut funding for the site. 

According to Everingham: “ Speedhunters is on ice. EA shelved Need For Speed, and that means no more funding for the site. Grateful for everything — the trips, the stories, the lifelong mates. I'm still shooting, just shifting gears into more video.”

Speedhunters was a blog dedicated to driving culture and had close ties to the NFS brand. The website was last updated on April 8, 2025, and has remained “on ice” ever since. EA is yet to confirm the shelving of the franchise.

The decline of the NFS franchise has been apparent. Need For Speed debuted in 1994 and has since released over 20 titles. The franchise has struggled to maintain its former presence. From 2015 to 2019, the Need For Speed franchise went through a rough patch as three titles developed by Ghost Games did not garner the widespread popularity they were expected to, nor meet community expectations.

While 2022’s Need For Speed Unbound, developed by Criterion and Codemasters, received better reception, it still struggled to generate enough sales to greenlight a sequel. Shortly after, EA shifted Criterion Games to the EA Entertainment group, assigning them to work on Battlefield 6 in addition to another racing project. 

Yet, the reported shelving of the NFS franchise seems to suggest that EA has either stalled the project or shifted all manpower toward the development of Battlefield 6, which aims to garner a player base of 100 million. 

The racing landscape has been quite competitive over the years, as Turn 10 and Playground Games’ Forza Horizon have dominated the genre, with over 45 million players since launch, before its release on the PlayStation 5.