30 years of Need for Speed, that’s easy to say, but it has gone by very fast

On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Need for Speed franchise, we had the privilege of speaking with some of the most influential figures behind its development, thanks to an invitation from Electronic Arts.

In that talk they talked about how Need for Speed was one of those franchises that took certain risks and did things differently within the genre to make a difference. An example of that was the pursuits, because no one had done that before.

About the constants and the essence of all the deliveries to be Need for Speed, Stanley enumerated that they are:

Justin Wiebe added that the relevance of car culture is also part of that DNA and how the franchise itself has evolved with it, such as the explosion of monster cars or the rise of exotic cars.

We were able to ask if cars are still the backbone of the franchise over these 30 years and how they have kept the franchise fresh by reinventing and rethinking all of its elements.

Here, Patrick Honnoraty told us that it was mainly the accessibility, the essence was that it was an easy title to play and almost never needed experience as a player to enjoy it. Trying to stick to this formula is what made it different from other titles in the same genre.

Talking about the most emblematic deliveries, Wiebe referred to Need for Speed Underground and Most Wanted as his crown jewels, even saying that he himself is part of the Most Wanted’s Black List. Things like the introduction of cops, drag racing and drift racing are what the director considers to be some of the most significant advancements that his two most recent installments had. John Stanley added that the story, gameplay and progression made Most Wanted a masterpiece of its time.

Another of the key moments of this interview is when they talked about how the design of the cars has changed over the years. Frankie Yip replied that both the technologies and the designs are more complex than in the first editions, and in the new games, each car has several different pieces of the same part, which means there are many permutations of each part.

Talking about the influence that even the game has had on real-life car culture, Bryn Alban pointed out that on social media sites like Instagram, you can see how many fans have taken elements of the game’s designs and used them on their own cars.

One of the things that caught our attention is that the team emphasized that they are always looking to do more with the franchise, especially on the customization side of the cars, although they did not anticipate what kind of things might come, as that depends on the cost involved in making them due to the high volume of car designs they already have.

In the last part of this roundtable, each of them mentioned the most important thing they have learned over the years and the most memorable moment they have had working with the franchise, and we can say that all these feelings and memories can be summed up in the fact that, as developers, they always have in mind the challenge of making the ultimate Need for Speed for everyone, which shows us the great commitment they have had in these 30 years.

Congratulations Need for Speed, may you have another 30 years and many more!