In the early ’00s, Consumerist gave out awards for "Worst Company of the Year.". As you understand, this title was given to the most guilty companies. In 2012, players decided to unite and vote for Electronic Arts… and it worked. Fans decided to vote for EA to bring them down to earth, opening their eyes to problems. Well, of course EA didn’t care about this and subsequently they became the Worst Company of the Year again in 2013. There are several reasons for this: Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3 endings and much more. The 2010s became a turning point for EA, t. To. it was during these years that they switched from the company producing Sports.sims, racing and RPGs for Evil Corporation, and NFS suffered extremely badly because of this.
Slightly Mad Studios and their contract with the devil
2 NFS: The Run and Shift 2: Unleashed are released in 2011. The first turned out to be quite unusual and fresh, and the second is a sequel to the original Shift from 2009, which decided to send players to conquer real stadiums rather than fictional streets. Yes, I agree, Shift dramatically changed the direction of the series from arcade racing to car sims, but a year later Hot Pursuit comes out (unexpectedly). If Shift rehabilitated the series after the unsuccessful ProStreet and Undercover, then Hot Pursuit consolidated the success and increased it. The first was made by Slightly Mad Studios, and the second by Criterion Games. EA then gave the two developers a task: Do what they do best. SMS started making a sequel to Shift, and Criterion decided to remake the cult part of the series again, this time Most Wanted. Both games took 2 years to make. At that time, EA was buying up everyone they could think of, but few continued to work, so SMS refused all purchase offers. EA didn’t give up the idea of buying the studio, but they kept refusing. When Shift 2 was preparing for release, EA was given a lucrative offer. EA gives 1.5 million dollars for them to make a threequel, but they are prohibited from working for third-party companies. Everything seemed to sound great, you haven’t released one game yet, and they’re already giving you money for the next one, all you need to do is make a threequel and not communicate with other publishers. They agreed, took the money and distributed it to the studio for salaries and bonuses. And now Shift 2 comes out, everyone likes everything, SMS began to prepare for the production of 3, when suddenly EA announced that it was not interested in 3, that is, in fact the game was canceled. BUT! The contract under which the developers are prohibited from working on other projects until the 3rd Shift is released remains in force. And the game won’t come out. EA as usual in general. Having cut off the SMS oxygen, they began to contact her employees, offering vacancies in their other studios. Many, of course, agreed. And management tried to keep the studio afloat. As a result, they agreed with Bandai Namco to release the next racing game, but because of that same contract with the devil, they had to finance the development from their own pockets. For this, of course, a crowdfunding campaign was organized, which raised about 5 million dollars. This game was Project Cars, which already has 3 parts in the series. In 2019 Codemasters bought SMS, but in 2021 EA bought Codemasters (ha ha). After 10 years, EA finally got SMS under their wing.
Black Box and their triumphant fall
Along with Shift 2, The Run was https://slotsshine.uk/login/ released in 2011 from Black Box, which has been developing the series throughout its life. Black Box tried to freshen up the series: One Big Race Across America. There were enough advantages, but they are unlikely to outweigh one big disadvantage: Frostbite. This is an engine from another EA studio, namely Dice. They developed it specifically for Battlefield, and using a first-person shooter engine in a racing game sounds strong, of course. Do you know what the list of games on Frostbite looked like before 2011?? Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield 1943, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Mirror’s Edge (yes, not a shooter. But the developers of Dice, they clearly know their engine better than Black Box), Battlefield 3. Shooter, shooter, shooter, shooter and on you, The Run. Brilliant? Brilliant. And then all EA games started using Frostbite: Dragon Age, Plants vs Zombies and all other EA games except Respawn projects (Titanfall, Apex). No, I don’t argue, with due attention you can adapt Frostbite to everything, but this takes a lot of time and knowledge. NFS has always been different in its storyline from other races. But here, let’s say, he didn’t get it right. We play as Jack, our red-haired friend Sam told us about a large-scale race from San Francisco to New York, and we also owe money to the mafia and therefore agree. All. Yes, not so hot, but at least some freshness after Shift and Hot Pursuit. The Run became too different from previous games in the series, but overall everyone liked it. What do you think EA did with the developers of Most Wanted, Carbon, Underground and the first parts of the series? They abolished them, renamed them Quick Line Games to support NFS: World. Fair? Fair. And that we already have SMS killed, Black Box closed. The Run 2 and the new Shift will never come out.
Criterion Games and choked by EA
Hot Pursuit was released in 2010. The success was indescribable. Drive, technology, gameplay as cops. And physics during accidents, my respect. After the success of the Hot Pursuit remake, EA gave them the task of reimagining Most Wanted. And at first glance, this is an extremely disgusting rethink: no characters, no plot, no tuning. NOTHING! Yes, here you have to stupidly pick up cars on the street like your homeless neighbor Vitalik. No, in general, as a racing game it has its place. Good graphics, good fleet of vehicles, good physics (because it’s not frostbite), but this Most Wanted spoils the whole experience. After such a failure, the studio announced that it was taking a break from racing and would help other EA studios in development. And it would seem yes? What’s the catch? They made a bad game themselves. But a few years later the truth was revealed. In 2017, supposedly original game concepts were published. Of course, everyone was skeptical, but in the same 2017, the left player came across a Devkit PS3 from the Criterion Games office with all the game builds, and after analysis, it became clear to the fans that MW 2012 was supposed to be a full-fledged continuation. In the story, they were blackmailed into returning to the world of street racing in the city of Fairhaven, in order, of course, to conquer the Black List. Everything was very similar to MW 2005, there was a Black List with full-fledged characters, each of whom had their own technology like in Hot Pursuit, and after defeating them you could take their technology for yourself, there was tuning, a garage and everything inherent in the series. Criterion wanted to take NFS to the next level by combining the best of the series into one product. The studio developed the game, but in the fall of 2011 EA came and said it would be released in 2012, do whatever you want. EA, of course, understood that Criterion would not have time to complete the project, and they rejected all proposals to give at least a year of development, and then they said that if Criterion did not have time to do something, then let them delete it. The plot was the first to go downhill, so number 2 disappeared from the name, but the general plan of the game remained recognizable for some time, but with each new build it took on the appearance we are familiar with. The question of why EA did this, especially considering that as many as 2 NFS were released in 2011, remains open to this day. Brilliant? Brilliant. As I already said, Criterion has gone into the shadows. It didn’t close, it became a support studio. So, our current result is 3 closed studios in 3 years lol, in just a couple of years they left their main series without a Developer, but of course they had a plan.
Ghost Games and at least some success
In 2011 they opened a new studio, EA Goteborg, and in 2012 they renamed it Ghost Games. Remember that EA invited people from Black Box and SMS to the new studio? Sooooo… The incident with Most Wanted did not teach EA anything, and they gave a year to develop a new part… New studio… not a single project… do not have to use Frostbite. To make such a game in a year, Criterion was appointed as a co-author, not as a support studio, but as co-authors. On October 22, 2012, before the release of Most Wanted, Criterion said that the new studio was involved in the next NFS, and already on November 15, 2 weeks after MW, EA Goteborg became Ghost Games, and became the main developer. And exactly a year later Rivals comes out, it was woven over the course of a year by a new studio, but now it is remembered with warmth. For once, a normal NFS came out, and Criterion completely went into the shadows. Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry founded Criterion Games in 2000, and then left the studio with several key developers to start over, releasing a reimagining of Burnout in 2019.
Ghost Games Trilogy
The further development of the series was entrusted to the Guests, and they stated that they were taking an additional year for development. The players were happy, but the question is why, because it was like that before. Previously, studios had 2 years so that EA could release NFS every year. The Run took 3 years to make, Most Wanted 2 years. Therefore, stories about an additional year were in fact a marketing ploy, as was the statement about a complete reboot of the series called simply Need For Speed. No matter what title you put, nothing will change, because these are ordinary races. Take Tuning away from players for a few years, and then everyone will say that this is a revolution in the series. Stonks? Stonks. In words, NFS 2015 had every chance of becoming the best game in the series, tuning is better than in Underground, cut scenes with live actors and cool cops. However, they didn’t hold out. The open world is empty, the plot is about friends in which you need to earn attention in a certain discipline. In fact, these are the most ordinary races, only the conditions change. And the physics in the game are disgusting (because it’s Frostbite), but the graphics are gorgeous (because it’s Frostbite). And the police in 2015 mmmm, just a sight for sore eyes. It’s as if everyone just bought the rights yesterday.
Payback was released next, which was supposed to correct the mistakes of the previous part. Crazy but epic plot, 3 years old, cool cut scenes, tuning. BUT! Between story-driven epic races I had to grind on regular ones, but the physics didn’t get any better. After the middle of the game you start to hate off-roading. Cars need to be purchased separately for each type of race, there are no cops. Well t. e. they are there, but they are not there. You can kind of race with them, but only according to the plot and events on the map. Well, tuning…how gorgeous it is in 2015, it is just as disgusting in 2017. Styling details are unlocked through challenges, and upgrade workshops have been turned into casinos. Of course, EA influenced the introduction of such mechanics. No wonder both critics and players destroyed the game.
NFS Heat is the last part at the moment, and it could well rehabilitate the series, but EA didn’t care. The marketing campaign was so bad it was disgusting. If previous games were teased in May, and fully shown in June at E3, then here only at Gamescome in August. The ghosts have finally learned how to use Frostbite, after adjusting the machine well, you can really have fun. Off-roading has become just a side effect, luxurious tuning, division into day and night racing. On the first you farm money, on the second you farm reputation. The cops here are stupid and aggressive, and the car doesn’t last forever. It can be repaired, but only 3 times per night. The plot in the game is also for show. Unfortunately, Heat was simply lost among other releases, because EA didn’t want to do any marketing at all. Yes, it’s not a fancy NFS, but it’s quite decent. Ghost Games is about to get it right, and a great NFS is about to come out, but this is EA. They dissolved them, turning them into a support studio… And they took Criterion out of support to make NFS, and then put them in support for Days, who managed to release Battlefield 2042 by the end of 2021. Whatever Criterion is doing now, they remain the only hope for NFS. In general, the series needs a serious reboot.