2022 marks the third year following the release of the latest Need for Speed game, Need for Speed: Heat, and EA has been suspiciously quiet on that front up until just now. According to Jeff Grubb, though, the franchise may be getting another mainline entry towards the end of the year.

In a discussion hosted on Grubb's Giant Bomb show, Grubbsnax, the host claimed that EA has got big plans for Need for Speed before the end of 2022. Grubb claims not only that the community should expect some major news and reveals in the coming months, but also that the franchise might be gunning to ditch last-generation hardware at last.

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Grubb outright stated that the next Need for Speed should be coming out sometime in November, with EA targeting the holiday release season to try and maximize the amount of hype a new NFS could garner. Of course, it would've been silly to expect there to be no NFS on the list of EA games currently in active development, but the surprising bit is that this game will apparently be exclusive to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles.

While Grubb was all but entirely sure that the new Need for Speed would be coming out in the holiday season as a current-gen exclusive, he wasn't positive on the game's setting. To that end, he said that the game might be set in Miami, leading him to think it would be similar to the Underground games in some ways, though it's worth keeping a pinch of salt on that front. This means that, while some members of the community may have hoped for EA to produce a Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2, this game probably won't tick all the same boxes.

Since classic Need for Speed games got delisted last year, EA's intention might be that the new NFS will offer a similar gaming experience as some of its older predecessors, and the likes of Underground could certainly do with a spiritual remake. Then again, if Grubb is right about the game being set in Miami or something similar, then the title might be a direct sequel to NFS: Heat since it is based in the Miami-inspired Palm City.

One particular feature that Need for Speed usually does well is the sheer breadth of vehicle customization options available to the player. Many titles in the franchise easily made their way to most lists of racing games with excellent car customization, and EA is likely looking to retain this excellence with the next Need for Speed entry. If Grubb's claims are correct, then an official announcement shouldn't be too far ahead by now, but only time will tell.

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Source: VGC