No Need for Need for Speed?

EA is in a tough spot, having to scale back their financial forecast for 2009 after their holiday release titles - namely Mirror’s Edge and Need for Speed: Undercover - performed below expectations.

The publisher has expressed interest, if not committing outright, in continuing to develop the Mirror’s Edge franchise. Need for Speed, however, may be on the outs, with Electric Playground reporting EA will dump future iterations.

The timing is strange, given CEO John Riccitiello’s comments just a few months ago about splitting the NFS team into two separate teams that would have two-year development cycles. That would allow EA to keep their ‘one-per-year’ release schedule, while theoretically providing higher quality games with less stress on the development teams.

Maybe it’s time to scrap the idea of ‘one-per-year’ franchises entirely? Look at Ubisoft and their relaunch of Prince of Persia. The game might not have lived up to expectations, gameplay wise, but it’s a stunning base to build from. Assassin’s Creed could easily have had a 12-months-later retread prepared, but they aren’t going to rush things. Ubisoft apparently now believes, though that clearly hasn’t been the case in the past, that they’re better off releasing a good sequel every two years instead of a quick one every 12 months.

AltBlogger stands behind that kind of thinking. Did we really need a new Need for Speed every year since what, 2002? For that matter, do we really need a new Madden, NHL, or NBA title every year? Use DLC to update a sports title over a two-year period, then drop a new version with vast improvements.

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