The next Need for Speed has a title and release date, report claims

EA has been surprisingly tight-lipped about the next entry in the Need for Speed franchise, but certain bits of information have managed to slip through the cracks. Back in May, Codemasters announced it would be joining forces with Criterion to “create the future of Need for Speed,” but a real treasure trove of leaked details has just dropped, bringing with it a title, a reveal window, and an actual release date.

According to Tom Henderson of InsiderGaming, the next Need for Speed game will be called Need for Speed Unbound, will be announced with a reveal trailer in early October, and is slated for release on December 2. That’s a pretty tight marketing turnaround between announcement and release, allowing potentially less than two months for the game to seize hearts and minds, and could make it more difficult to shift copies.

In the report, Henderson mentions that the reveal announcement had been delayed several times, originally slated for reveal in July before being shunted down the line month by month to its current planned window. No reason was given for the various delays, but with the release date just round the corner, it’s possible it was more of a marketing complication — say, dissatisfaction with the trailer or an issue with music rights — than a serious problem with the development of the game itself.

Need for Speed Unbound will reportedly be much more multiplayer-focused, featuring “Meetups” which will allow players to get together and face off in one-on-one races around the game’s unique maps. It’s set to release only on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC, meaning no previous-gen compatibility. This isn’t that surprising these days, but it does make it more likely that the game will retail with a $70 price tag, something that is becoming increasingly common for games released for current-gen systems.