It seems as though Criterion Games has officially addressed the questions about the future of Need for Speed that arose after its 30th anniversary rebranding as "a Battlefield studio." In a recent interview with IGN , Vice President of Battlefield Studios Europe, Rebecka Coutaz, has basically confirmed fans' fears that Need for Speed is all but dead. When asked about the potential future of its racing games following the rebranding, the VP responded that "We are solely focused on Battlefield," indicating that, 2022's Need for Speed Unbound would likely be the last entry into the studio's racing IP. This comment likewise spells doom for the Burnout franchise, which hasn't had a new entry since 2018 with the Burnout Paradise Remaster, if you can even call that a new entry.

The absence of Burnout and Need for Speed leave a notable gap in the racing game market that games like Forza and the DiRT series don't necessarily fill, thanks to the combination of street and track racing and stunt driving. A quick gander at SteamDB reveals that, aside from the live-service push, the reason for moving away from Need for Speed as a franchise may be due to declining player interest. On Steam, Need for Speed Unbound peaked at a disappointing 14,063 concurrent players at launch and has since plateaued at around 1,000-1,500 peak concurrent daily players. Battlefield 6 , on the other hand, currently sits at around 50,000 daily concurrent players, previously peaking at an all-time high of over 740,000 concurrent players.