Plan on seeing Criterion’s Need for Speed game next year

The revitalization of Need for Speed as a franchise must be going well, because the Criterion-developed NFS game is very much alive and kicking. You can look, but you can’t touch. Wait, no — you can’t look either. Damn.

Based on what EA Games label president Frank Gibeau said today during a conference call, we can expect the game to come out next year. He noted that the project “has been under development now for some time,” which leads me to believe this is what Criterion has been doing alongside the Burnout DLC. Ah-hah!

I am curious beyond belief to see if Criterion will be opting for an open-world setting similar to Burnout Paradise, or if they’ll take us back to the days of linear racing. Either way, I’m stoked. Stoked, I tell you!