In a move that will upset some of the franchise's fans, EA has decided that some older Need for Speed games have died out, and they're now being permanently removed from storefronts. The driving game series has a long and full history, but certain servers are only getting used by a handful of players, and it's time to shut them down. It's a sad time in any online game's life-cycle, but it eventually comes to them all.
In a post on Reddit, spotted by GameRant, the community manager for EA's Need for Speed titles gave fans the bad news. Need for Speed Carbon, Need for Speed Undercover, Need for Speed Shift, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed, and Need for Speed The Run were all being removed from digital storefronts, and servers will be shut down shortly after.
An example of how an old game in this series can be reborn, here is the trailer for 2020's Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered...
All of those titles were pulled from digital storefronts on May 31st, so it's too late now to purchase them. Servers, however, will be open until August 31, so you still have the opportunity to race against friends one last time if these games are particularly nostalgic to you. The post also says that players can still use the offline modes of these games in the future, as they will still be accessible once the servers are gone.
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The post continues: "Decisions to retire games are never made easy, but we are now shifting gears to focus on the future of Need for Speed. The development teams and operational staff have put a lot of time and passion into the development, creation, release and upkeep of the game over the years, and we love to see you play. But the number of players has come to a point where it's no longer feasible to continue the work behind the scenes required to keep Need for Speed Carbon, Need for Speed Undercover, Need for Speed Shift, Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed, and Need for Speed The Run up and running."
There are more recent Need for Speed titles that are still available to play. Need for Speed Most Wanted (2012), Need for Speed Rivals, Need for Speed (2015), Need for Speed Payback, Need for Speed Heat, and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered are all mentioned in the announcement post to remind fans that the series has moved on with new games, and Need for Speed is still alive and well.
Topics: News, Need For Speed, EA