A new Need for Speed game has been known to be in development for a while, with the last official communication about it being that Criterion Games was stepping away from it to assist with Battlefield 2042. This resulted in an internal delay, but it does seem Criterion is back on Need for Speed full blast.
According to Jeff Grubb, a new Need for Speed game is currently set to release around November 2022. It adds up time-wise, and furthermore, it’ll be PS5 and Xbox Series X only. While this may be upsetting for PS4 and Xbox One users, it does hopefully mean the game takes advantage of the improved tech. He was less certain on this but believes the game could be set in Miami, which to him sounds like it could be going for an Underground vibe. If so, this would almost absolutely be welcomed by the community if done right.
Need for Speed: Back to the Underground
That’s not to say that this year’s supposed Need for Speed game should be an Underground 1 or 2 Remake, but delivering on a new Underground title would be a nostalgic sell. It used to be that there were a plethora of high-quality racing games, such as Midnight Club and many of the classic Need for Speed games, but they’ve died down quite a bit. That’s NOT to say there aren’t popular or good racing games today, but they seem less frequent and competitive compared to older games.
Need for Speed had several beloved classic titles that it has tried to bring back in the past decade or so. Most Wanted had a reboot of sorts in 2012, but it failed to capture the excitement of street racing and personal investment in a story as the original 2005 launch did. Hot Pursuit even got remastered, but again, it failed to capture lightning in a bottle a second time. That is absolutely why, if this new game is somehow related to Underground, it should not just be a reused name or a remaster—it has to do now what the original Underground.
The original Need for Speed Underground games truly felt street-level and underground, all the way down to the radio’s playlist. It was the first game in the series to offer a career mode with a full-fledged storyline, as well as the in-depth customization found in its garage mode. While the former is hit or miss, the second feels like a given now in any racing game. Underground also pushed import vehicles over exotics, adding to that rough underground vibe, and overall, the game was a critical and commercial success.
If this new game is indeed connected to Need for Speed Underground in some fashion, then it should be a franchise reset in every shape and way the original was.
A new Need for Speed game is in development, reportedly for PS5 and Xbox Series X.