Thank you EA, thank you!
Earlier today, the studio in charge of development of the next Need for Speed title dropped an update for the title. While I felt it was more of a”hey, this game is still coming”, it had some important info in it. Especially since we only heard about the title in passing during 2016. But now that E3 2017 is rolling around and EA will be showing off the game that their EA Play event during E3 2017 week. I’m sure the company fully intends to make sure we all know about it.
But it’s a Need for Speed title, how could we forget about it?
In this post, several things were mentioned; Cops, Customized Rides, Fantastic Racing, and Always-Online. While all those are important, let’s talk about the elephant in the road, shall we? EA’s Need for Speed: Rivals and the 2015 Need for Speed reboot, did something that was never done before. Or not done before in a Need for Speed game; an always-online requirement. Now, as much as I enjoyed the previous Need For Speed games (I loved Porsche Unleased and Hot Pursuit 2), I wasn’t fans of the last two games. When Rivals was released back in 2014, I cringed. Short of yanking the network cable from my PS4, I was forced to play online. I hated it and so did the NFS community. But don’t take my word for it, just head to this
Short of yanking the network cable from my PS4, I was forced to play online. I hated it and so did the NFS community. But don’t take my word for it, just head to this post, this and this.
Always online (PLEASE DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN, I BEG YOU!)
Then EA released Need for Speed 2015, with the same damned Always-Online and I cringed yet again. Why, EA? Why did you go and ruin a game that did not need this crummy Always-Online requirement? It’s a racing game and If I didn’t elect to go online, I shouldn’t be forced to play online. Of course, this requirement eventually soured many a player and neither of those titles went on to do very well in sales.
So today when Ghost sent out their post regarding the upcoming Need For Speed title, it was nice to see that the Always-Online requirement was being killed off. In an almost comical way, it would seem like they were poking fun at themselves.
Let’s finish on one of the biggest discussion points around the last game: always-online. To say that this is a topic you’re passionate about would be an understatement, and whenever there’s a topic that gathers as much attention and feedback from you as this did, we take note.
So, when release day rolls around for the next Need for Speed, you will be able to play through a single player experience completely offline. Before you ask, and we know you will, this does mean you will be able to pause the game.
Yes, because that’s all we wanted! To be able to play the game and pause the game if the cat caught on fire or if the pizza guy was at the door. Not be forced online and having to step way, only to lose the race or get caught by the police. I’m happy to see that the message was finally received. Either that or they looked at their previous sales and wondered what the heck happened. Either way, I don’t care as long as the requirement is now gone.
So, thank you EA and Ghost! I’m now excited to see what is in store for the next title. Especially now that Always-Online is gone from the picture. Never let it rear its ugly head again, ok?
Lastly, check out the entire post from Ghost here.
