Earlier this week we saw a leak that no one was expecting; however, it is a leak unlike the mess that was a Reddit user testing the patience of every YouTuber that reports on every rumor like it is the bible. This leak is real and has been confirmed by EA, which also saw a leak of its acclaimed Plants vs. Zombies series early last month. In a prepared set of remarks by EA following its shareholding meeting for Q1 of the 2020 fiscal year, EA confirmed they will be bringing a new Need for Speed game (assumed to be called: Heat) to Gamescom.

The official statement by Andrew Wilson is, “We’ll take the wraps off our new Need for Speed game heading into Gamescom in a few weeks. We have a Plants vs. Zombies shooter title coming to console and PC later this year.” Also stating that alongside Planets vs. Zombies 3, which is currently in pre-alpha, a Plants vs. Zombies shooter is releasing later this year. One would assume the release will be November or December this year if it is not delayed.

However, this will be the first Need for Speed game to release since Payback in 2017, after the series reboot in 2015. Though I have not personally touched the series since 2010, back when Criterion made Hot Pursuit, which is the third game to have that title. Hot Pursuit was a more focused title than Criterion’s early open-world racer, Burnout Paradise. However, they are not making this third game in the reboot series.

Before this, the studio in-development of any given Need for Speed title would jump around every few years. Now it seems Ghost Games, developer of the last three games, is taking charge of the series. In the mid-to-late 90’s, the development was mostly split between EA Canada and EA Seattle. For the 2000’s release of Porsche Unleashed, development was split between Eden Games, EA Canada, and Pocketeers. Eden Games later went on to create the Test Drive Unlimited series for Atari.

Since then, development flopped from studio to studio, mostly being spearheaded by EA Black Box. They kept the reins until 2013 when they were closed after releasing two games in 2010-11: Need for Speed: The Run in 2011 and Skate 3 in 2010. After a short-lived stint as Quicklime Studios, they were closed and Ghost Games took over. Meanwhile, former Black Box employees went on to develop Ubisoft’s The Crew 2.

Then there are the troubles the Need for Speed series faced more recently, with two games in 2017. First was EA’s second attempt at a Need for Speed Online (as it was called in China) which was Beta tested in early 2017 and never heard of again. It was presumably canceled, though not particularly confirmed as such. However, the last game in the series by Ghost games was the aforementioned Need for Speed Payback. The latter, however, did not live up to much in the eyes of the critics with middling reviews, the highest of which came from Polygon with a 6.5 out of 10.

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