Next NFS

[ELmarcotuff]

bringing up the rumor mill, one of my buddies told me that they are remastering one of the underground. I figured I'd ask you guys since you would know better than I. Feel free to insult relentlessly if these rumors aren't true.

 

[FT-1]

I would take any info at this stage with a pinch of salt. One relevant piece of news that has emerged today is Criterion Games posting a load of job positions for "Something big". Based on recent developments, it's fair to assume these roles have opened up for development on the next NFS game.



Given how one of the roles is "Associate Producer", I don't think the theme of the next game has even been finalised yet.

 

[ELmarcotuff]

I would take any info at this stage with a pinch of salt. One relevant piece of news that has emerged today is Criterion Games posting a load of job positions for "Something big". Based on recent developments, it's fair to assume these roles have opened up for development on the next NFS game.



Given how one of the roles is "Associate Producer", I don't think the theme of the next game has even been finalised yet.

Alright, thank you

 

[Sage Ages]

An NFS remaster is never going to happen.

 

[TS050]

EA don't remaster games

 

[ELmarcotuff]

EA don't remaster games

Burnout paradise

 

[Sage Ages]

Burnout paradise

BPR is nothing more with than a glorified port with some texture swaps. It's barely acceptable to call it a remaster and the same treatment would not be applicable to a game as old as Underground.


That's even before we get into to logistical concerns of who would make an NFS remaster and how to handle the ludicrous amount of licensing that would be involved.

 

[ELmarcotuff]

BPR is nothing more with than a glorified port with some texture swaps. It's barely acceptable to call it a remaster and the same treatment would not be applicable to a game as old as Underground.


That's even before we get into to logistical concerns of who would make an NFS remaster and how to handle the ludicrous amount of licensing that would be involved.

Licensing is something that I was wondering about with it, considering black box doesn't exist anymore. Or would that matter? Don't really know how licensing works.

 

[T0MMY3688]

I don't think a remaster will happen for any of the NFS that the community really wants, I think EA could remake it like the recent Resident Evil games but I don't think EA is willing to stuff that much money into NFS.

 

[NotThePrez]

Licensing is something that I was wondering about with it, considering black box doesn't exist anymore. Or would that matter? Don't really know how licensing works.

Licensing in games is basically on a timer. The license in games is only active for set amount of time. For games like UG1 or MW05, which seem to be the most requested games for remaster, that would mean paying for licensing for cars, music, aftermarket manufacturers, said visual parts from manufacturers (rim's, vynils, etc.), for a bunch of outdated assets.

 

[T0MMY3688]

I think if they are really remastering one of the NFS, HP2010 and newer should be possible. They are still on sale on digital platforms, licenses for the content still active and maybe asking for extention for a remaster might not be as hard as renegotiate the expired licenses from Underground or Most Wanted.

Will be nice to have a NFS on Switch.

 

[ELmarcotuff]

I think if they are really remastering one of the NFS, HP2010 and newer should be possible. They are still on sale on digital platforms, licenses for the content still active and maybe asking for extention for a remaster might not be as hard as renegotiate the expired licenses from Underground or Most Wanted.

Will be nice to have a NFS on Switch.

Would be a pretty easy remaster, it still looks and sounds fantastic

 

[Dave A]

I think if they are really remastering one of the NFS, HP2010 and newer should be possible. They are still on sale on digital platforms, licenses for the content still active and maybe asking for extention for a remaster might not be as hard as renegotiate the expired licenses from Underground or Most Wanted.

Will be nice to have a NFS on Switch.

I don't believe the licenses need to remain active in order for the product to remain on sale. The licenses tend to be for the manufacturers or vehicles to appear a specific game/games, 10 years later that game can still be sold if the developer chooses to do so, should that make business sense. There is no golden rule of licensing, a license can be exclusive, it can be cover all games made by a single developer or just one or more specific titles. It ultimately comes down to what has been agreed between the developer and the manufacturer.

For example it was fairly common knowledge that Porsche and EA had a timed exclusive license for Need for Speed titles, which was extended multiple times before one or both parties decided to discontinue on an exclusive basis. But you get other manufacturers who license on a game by game basis. Also just aquiring a license from a certain manufacturer doesn't automatically mean you get to include all of that brands cars in your game. A lot of manufactures tend to want to ensure that thier current car models are in a game above older models, some manufacturers are less bothered by this than others.

I recall one developer talking about the differnece in dealing with Ford and TVR, and they were saying TVR were pretty much allowing them to include what you want and weren't bothered about the cars being damaged in the game, they pretty much said do what you want. Ford were more particular, they had to use certain cars, they were allowed scratches and dents in the bodywork but doors couldn't open or fall off and the car couldn't be damanged to the extent it was undrivable etc.

Of course Ford and TVR are on oppsite ends of the spectrum, not just in atitude in this example but also in scale and size of the business, so it makes sense that Ford would be more particular and have a more marketing focused appraoch to giving out a license.

TLDR all licenses are different.

 

[T0MMY3688]

I don't believe the licenses need to remain active in order for the product to remain on sale. The licenses tend to be for the manufacturers or vehicles to appear a specific game/games, 10 years later that game can still be sold if the developer chooses to do so, should that make business sense. There is no golden rule of licensing, a license can be exclusive, it can be cover all games made by a single developer or just one or more specific titles. It ultimately comes down to what has been agreed between the developer and the manufacturer.

I don't think I heard licenses being made to cover all games, most I heard from devs are per game basis for "X" amount of time. Since they do plan on the amount of cars they are planning to put into the game and it is more often to see cars went missing in the sequel as well, no point licensing a pile of cars years ago and end up not using it when newer cars is available.

For example it was fairly common knowledge that Porsche and EA had a timed exclusive license for Need for Speed titles, which was extended multiple times before one or both parties decided to discontinue on an exclusive basis. But you get other manufacturers who license on a game by game basis. Also just aquiring a license from a certain manufacturer doesn't automatically mean you get to include all of that brands cars in your game. A lot of manufactures tend to want to ensure that thier current car models are in a game above older models, some manufacturers are less bothered by this than others.

But even if they have the exclusive license, it doesn't mean they can just use them indefinitely. Licenses gets expired and games get delisted like all the older racing games with licensed cars just went disappear from online stores.

Some games like GTR2 is still continue selling on Steam but have Ferrari and Porsche removed due to the license is expired.

I recall one developer talking about the differnece in dealing with Ford and TVR, and they were saying TVR were pretty much allowing them to include what you want and weren't bothered about the cars being damaged in the game, they pretty much said do what you want. Ford were more particular, they had to use certain cars, they were allowed scratches and dents in the bodywork but doors couldn't open or fall off and the car couldn't be damanged to the extent it was undrivable etc.

Of course Ford and TVR are on oppsite ends of the spectrum, not just in atitude in this example but also in scale and size of the business, so it makes sense that Ford would be more particular and have a more marketing focused appraoch to giving out a license.

I know about those, back in the backer forum for Project CARS they were forced to tone down the damage on all Mercedes where the cars could not have any parts like doors drop off when damaged. Other brands like BMW just let whatever parts to fall off when you crash in game.

TLDR all licenses are different.

But at the end, if said license is expired devs are less likely to make a remaster out of it. Didn't Codemaster tried port CMR 2.0 for iOS back then and it just end up being a game with most of its content missing.

 

[Dave A]

I don't think I heard licenses being made to cover all games, most I heard from devs are per game basis for "X" amount of time. Since they do plan on the amount of cars they are planning to put into the game and it is more often to see cars went missing in the sequel as well, no point licensing a pile of cars years ago and end up not using it when newer cars is available.



But even if they have the exclusive license, it doesn't mean they can just use them indefinitely. Licenses gets expired and games get delisted like all the older racing games with licensed cars just went disappear from online stores

Apologies I probably wasn't clear, when I was refering to licenses covering all games and being exclusive, I did mean time limited. For example, Porsche and EA's exclusive deals were for a set number of years and each time they renewed it was for a set number of additional years.

Some games like GTR2 is still continue selling on Steam but have Ferrari and Porsche removed due to the license is expired.

I would hazard a guess there's something more complex going on here than it being a simple case of the license expired. I would hazard a guess that it's a post launch licensing dispute that resulted in these cars being removed from the Steam version of GTR2 rather than the license expiring. Perhaps the Steam version represented a different product in some way due to it's distribution method. Whatever the reason you would need a copy of the license agreement and likely someone versed in legal jargon to decipher what has happened there.

But at the end, if said license is expired devs are less likely to make a remaster out of it. Didn't Codemaster tried port CMR 2.0 for iOS back then and it just end up being a game with most of its content missing.

Absolutely, that's why most racing games featuring real brands and cars don't get remastered. It's too much work and expense acquiring all of the licenses all over again.

 

[T0MMY3688]

Absolutely, that's why most racing games featuring real brands and cars don't get remastered. It's too much work and expense acquiring all of the licenses all over again.

Even Xbox BC was an issue, only a short list of racing game somehow manage to get backwards compatibility support.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

A somewhat unorthodox idea, but I'd love to see an NFS set in the past. Around 70s to 80s Americana era with only classic muscle cars and the occasional classic JDM/exotics like 240Z and Miura. Think Driver 2's Havana city setting crossed with Payback's wide open deserts and the customary forest/mountain area on the edges. No silly revenge stories, just a traditional rags to riches racer story with cops thrown in. The reason why I choose older cars is because they seem to have the highest number of unique customizations in 2015/PB/Heat. I also thought it would be interesting to explore the hot rodding/muscle car culture because we've had so many games deal with JDM and exotics already.

Alternative idea 2, somewhat less adventurous, is set in Japan. We all know how crazy their car culture is, from lowriders to bosozoku style. The city would be a neon lit playground, with Wangan highways for true top speed races and perilous touges on the outskirts. We've had many open world racing games set in USA and Europe (and even Australia with FH3), but none that I can think of on the Asian continent. Now licensing is probably an issue unless they want to have totally made up advertising brands, but I'm sure EA has more than enough dough if they really want it

 

[FT-1]

Probably means nothing, but EA Play is tonight and the NFS Twitter account posted this...

 

[T0MMY3688]

I don't want to get my hopes up on that but they did mention "more NFS news and Steam announcement" at EA Play on the article about Heat last update.

 

[inCloud]

Probably means nothing

I doubt they will anounce NFS 2021, but it could be remaster.

A somewhat unorthodox idea, but I'd love to see an NFS set in the past. Around 70s to 80s Americana era with only classic muscle cars and the occasional classic JDM/exotics like 240Z and Miura.

My dream NFS set in 1970s in East States. Something between Dukes of Hazzard, Smokey and Bandit, Gone in 60 seconds and NFSIII Hometown.

 

[Ameer67]

Well it ain't a UG remake.

 

[Sage Ages]

I mean that option wasn't even on the table anyways.

 

[FT-1]

EA Play provided a first glimpse of next-gen Need For Speed visuals

Funny enough, this reminds me of the original Pro Street Trailer. I'm still feeling burned on how quickly support for Heat was cut off, so I'll have to wait for more information. And a roadmap.

 

[Emick81]

I like the graphical style. Hot pursuit 2010 was the last NFS i really enjoyed and consider a quality product. The idea of Criterion and next gen hardware is exciting, although I somewhere read that Criterion is no longer the originial crew from back in the day.

 

[GTboyz]

EA Play provided a first glimpse of next-gen Need For Speed visuals

Funny enough, this reminds me of the original Pro Street Trailer. I'm still feeling burned on how quickly support for Heat was cut off, so I'll have to wait for more information. And a roadmap.

Goddamn.

 

[MIE1992]

UG1 is entirely inferior to UG2, anyway.

 

[T0MMY3688]

I actually prefer Underground 1 a lot more than Underground 2, the tracks in Underground 1 just feels better to race on.

 

[FT-1]

Apparently Stellar Entertainment is remastering a Need For Speed title and it could be Hot Pursuit 2010:

 

[inCloud]

Both HP10 and MW12 would be awesome. Especially if they could bring some Ferrari

 

[T0MMY3688]

Apparently Stellar Entertainment is remastering a Need For Speed title and it could be Hot Pursuit 2010:

Did any of his past rumors/speculation is accurate? Will be nice if it is true but I kinda doubt it will happen.