Need for Speed gets new year of Unbound live service for series' 30th birthday

The Need for Speed team is celebrating the franchise's 30th anniversary with another year of live service content for its most recent release, Unbound.

«Surprise! We're still here,» developer Criterion Games shared in a new blog post, where it detailed Need for Speed: Unbound's year two roadmap. «NFS turns 30 this year, and with that huge legacy, we couldn't stand idle. However, this year will be a bit different from the previous one.»

The studio said it hopes players will make «new memories» with the Need for Speed series this year, but admitted it «can't build everything everyone wants right now». What it can do, however, is work with its community to decide what the series should look like in the future.

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«Our vision is that through our second year of live service, you can, for the first time, begin to play the ultimate NFS experience in one place. Your feedback and gameplay will help shape the future of this iconic franchise. As you play, we will be listening, observing and reacting to the things you want to see and those you don't,» Criterion said.

First, the team will add four new «volumes» of content in the coming year. Launched every few months, these will include «exciting themed updates, with at least one new major mode added to each volume». There will also be more events, challenges and ranks to earn.

The studio also plans to release «at least two» new fully-customisable cars as part of the Speed Pass. «And when we say cars, we mean cars in the NFS sense, like no one else creates,» Criterion said. «We aren't just talking base models here and stock paint there; we are talking cars that come with fully customisable body kits with a myriad of interchangeable parts so you can tweak your ride just the way you want it.»

Criterion said it would also focus on the most-requested bug fixes