Black Box Returning For NFS 2011

Joshua Hood 37 Comments

Speaking to Eurogamer, EA’s European vice president Patrick Soderlund – you know, the one with a PSP2 – has revealed that Need for Speed veterans Black Box over in Vancouver will be developing the next big action title in the series for November next year.

Whilst the studio’s last console NFS title was Undercover back in 2008, they have since worked on the follow-ups to Skate, and the PC MMO Need for Speed World, which was released earlier this summer to decidedly average reviews.

In the interview, Soderlund discusses this year’s Criterion-developed title, Hot Pursuit, saying that the developer is “not neccessarily” working exclusively on NFS now: “What happens to Criterion in the future, we’ll see. Obviously they’re a brilliant studio we’re going to put against something that makes sense for EA and them. We’re not ready to talk about exactly what that is at this point.” He does confirm at least that the Burnout series is by no means dead. “The way we look at it is Burnout is an IP EA owns,” he continued. “I hope to see more Burnout games in the future. But it’s about prioritising what we want to do. At this point we haven’t made a decision to whether Burnout does this or that, but it’s not dead for sure, no.”

Soderlund also revealed that the Need for Speed franchise is splitting in two, with the annual “mass-market” arcade game every holiday season, and then entries in the more realistic Shift series “when the market permits and when we feel ready.” Shift 2 is currently pegged for a release early next year.

Also talked about in the interview is the GT5 delay (“I can’t lie, that could potentially be good for us,”) a potential sequel to Mirror’s Edge (“We’re absolutely continuing to support Mirror’s Edge as an IP,”) and teases that due to the company’s new two-year release strategy, any 2011 Medal of Honor game might come from another studio (“I can’t comment. That’s something you’re going to have to wait until we announce whatever information we have on that brand.”) You can read the full interview here.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit launches later this month for PS3, 360, PC and Wii, and you can read our recent hands on just here.

Source: Eurogamer

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37 Comments

  1. I thought Black Box did the first Shift?

    • Nope. Slightly Mad Studios handled the first Shift for EA.

      • Indeed, SMS are doing Shift 2 as well.

    • I stand corrected, hmm Undercover was a bit meh??? Have to wait and see what they can do with the new one!

  2. Can EA please do a true and spiritual successor to Burnout 3 instead of carrying on this carcus of a series?

    • You mean Criterion? And Paradise was by far the best Burnout game.

      • ‘Paradise was by far the best Burnout game.’

        Yep. Definatly agree with this.

      • The only thing missing was a classic Crash Mode with predefined starts and intersections…

      • No…i meant EA and you would probably say paradise as it has more in common with need for speed than need for speed does now :P

  3. Road Rash. Road Rash now! Road Rash forever!

    • All anybody wants EA to do is a current gen Road Rash and SSX…

      • ssx yes! or a hd remake of tricky….. bollocks to it, id like just a ps2 version placed on the store

      • Sadly, Road Rash and SSX sales have been poor over the past few years, whereas mediocre NFS games have sold quite well. Maybe if we buy as many Road Rash and SSX games still on the market the smell of money changing hands will waft up the nose of some EA suit.

  4. no one else see blackbox right on time reference?
    great title thingy :)

    • I got it, but it should really be more along the lines of “riiiiiiggghht onnn timmmmee”! :)

      • Walk right in walk walk walk right in. Gonna get up gonna get up gonna get up etcetera etcetera….

  5. I thought i read something back earlier this year (or whenever) saying that black box were closing their studios?? Or am i going mental??

    • Last year they moved from their previous studios to be with EA Canada I think.

      • Ah, that would explain a lot (as i seem to recall that the info said that either Skate 2 or 3 would be their last game). Thanks Josh! :)

  6. The last black box NFS was undecover, and that was terrible. Hopefully they dont go and ruin shift.

    • BBS aren’t making Shift2, SMS are

  7. C’mon Criterion make BLACK 2 xD that game was brilliant on PS2 destructible environments – Epic.

  8. Taking a leaf out of Activision CoD book, Criterion and Black Box Studios (think Infinity Ward & Treyarch) will produce alternate alternate entries into the Need For Speed series and they will be arcade-y in style. These are locked down for an annual pre-Christmas releases with no deviation.

    Slightly Mad Studios will be making a serious sim-style entry into the NfS series as and when its ready (ie. not locked into a pre-Christmas annual release) this will come under the Shift brand and EA want that to rival GT & Forza (but obviously be multi-platform)

    • Pretty much, yeah. I’d like to see other studios have a try at NFS though, rather than just Criterion and Black Box. Same with Medal of Honor actually.

    • I hope not, I’d rather Criterion just do Hot pursuit and then another Burnout.

  9. Black Box song is “Ride On Time” not “Right On time”, a common mistake. Subheadline FAIL :)

    • Indeed it is – the lyric is still “right” though ;)

    • Not if you’re an italian DJ who can’t speak english it’s not.

  10. They better be making Most Wanted 2. Anything else is unaccepatble.

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