A Community Manager over on the Need for Speed subreddit announced that, as of today, several older Need for Speed titles will be removed from digital storefronts. The same goes for in-game stores, which will also be closed as of today. For players who have already purchased some of these games in the past, or decide to pick up a physical copy of the games after the delisting, keep in mind that online services for the games will be shut down on August 31 of this year. After that date, you can still play the games on offline mode and access any offline features, but no more co-op online races will be possible. With that said, the following games are being delisted:
- Carbon
- Undercover
- Shift
- Shift 2: Unleashed
- The Run
It seems the decision was made to sunset these games in order to allow the developers and operational staff to turn their focus to the more recent and upcoming titles. While they had kept the games going as long as they could, the player count for those titles has dipped to a point where it is no longer feasible to continue to support them. That being said, there are still plenty of Need for Speed games still available for purchase such as Rivals, Payback, Heat, and more.
Scrolling into the comments shows that people are upset, mainly at the rather abrupt announcement for the delisting. This is unfortunate for anyone who previously planned on picking up the game for their backlog or buying the DLCs before they are gone, but EA has given a three-month warning for the server shut down, which, as the Community Manager points out, is triple the 30 days notice that they are obligated to give according to their Terms of Service.
One last thing to note is that when asked if Need for Speed (2015) will ever receive an offline patch, the Community Manager stated that it’s not likely as turning an always-online game into an offline-capable one is difficult and that the current Need for Speed development team at Criterion barely has enough time to work on their 2022 title. This means that when the inevitable retirement of 2015’s Need for Speed comes, the game will be completely unplayable. So if you feel the need for speed, hit the streets of Ventura Bay while you still can.
