EA has confirmed that a new Need for Speed will be revealed at this year’s Gamescom.
It looks like last month’s leak was right: a new Need for Speed game is coming and we’re about to get our first look. What was revealed to be called “Need for Speed Heat” on an Austrian game website will be shown for the first time at Gamescom in Germany later this month.
The leak also said that the new Need for Speed would arrive sometime in 2019, but that's not quite what EA said during their second-quarter investor call. EA CEO Andrew Wilson instead just said that it would arrive sometime before the end of the fiscal year, which would be March 2020.
"We'll be delivering many other new experiences to players throughout the remainder of this fiscal year," Wilson said. "We'll take the wraps off our new Need for Speed game heading into Gamescom in a few weeks."
Confirming an earlier investor call from last February, Wilson also reiterated that a new Plants vs. Zombies game is also in the works, but added it would be a "shooter" that arrives on console and PC later this year. That same call also confirmed earlier reports that NBA 20 Live had been delayed.
We had a good idea that Need for Speed would be unveiled at this year's Gamescom, thanks to a blog post from Swedish developer Ghost Games. Last May, a news update said they'd be "heading south" to pop the hood on the new Need for Speed game in August, and Germany is vaguely south of Sweden, so geography nerds could put two-and-two together.
We don't have much else to go on for what to expect from Need for Speed Heat. The last game, called Need for Speed Payback, featured a single-player campaign peppered with cinematics to make it feel like you're playing a Fast and Furious movie. However, the game received tepid reviews thanks to abundant microtransactions, lack of police chases in open-drive mode, and limited customization options.
With a name like "Heat", we can only assume that Need for Speed will be dialing up the police chases, which have historically been a high point for the franchise.
(via Gamespot)