Fans of racing sims will be glad to know that, while there most definitely is not a shortage, two new Need For Speed titles may be in the works. Thanks to a few LinkedIn accounts, and probable typing clumsiness, Need For Speed Shift 2 and an as-of-yet unnamed title in the franchise may have been hinted at. Those two profiles are of Chris Mcclure, a programmer who worked with NFS:Shift developers Slightly Mad Studios from Aug. ‘09 to Feb. ‘10, and Rees Savidis, a writer and assistant producer at EA.
During an earnings call in February, EA proposed a new Need For Speed title for 2011. On July 1, Mcclure changed a short sentence “…but also worked on Need For Speed Shift too” to “…but also worked on Need For Speed Shift 2.” Of course, he changed the ending back to “too” shortly thereafter claiming it was a mere “typo”. If Mcclure did in fact work on Shift 2, it means that it will be in the development cycle till 2011.
In related but slightly less speculative news, Rees Savidis’s resume had an interesting statement to say the least, stating, "Recently, I've worked on world concepts and narrative fiction for a new IP at Electronic Arts Blackbox and helped to develop the fiction and characters for the 2011 installment in the AAA 'Need For Speed' franchise." While it is probably safe to say that another Need For Speed is in the works via Blackbox, it is a whole different question as to what kind of Need For Speed needs writers to work on “world concepts" and “narrative fiction”.
