We already knew about the latest Need For Speed before Electronic Arts kicked off its media presentation in Los Angeles today as part of the gaming industry’s major gathering for the Electronic Entertainment Expo tradeshow, but now we know even more.
Need for Speed: Payback is the latest open-world racer from developer Ghost Games, which produced the rebooted Need for Speed in 2015. This new entry in the long-running racing series once again leans into a story mode, but this time EA and Ghost are looking to take some tips from one of the biggest car-entertainment franchises in the world: The Fast and the Furious film series. The game will focus heavily on customization and collecting resources to facilitate the economy of that system.
With Payback, EA is also solidifying that Need For Speed is its one-and-only driving series as Burnout falls further away in the company’s rearview mirror. Some of the people at Ghost Games came from the Criterion team that worked on beloved groundbreaking hits like Burnout Paradise. But Need For Speed was always more popular, and EA is sticking with what sells.
