The Need for Speed reboot coming to PC and consoles this year will require an internet connection to play, EA has revealed. The publisher confirmed the not entirely welcome news on Twitter yesterday, but promised that ”the benefits are nice”.
Being always online will result in ”More variety and a more rewarding experience with friends,” says EA, which doesn’t appear to have swayed the fanbase all that much, at least judging by the responses to the tweet.
It’s the first time in the Need for Speed series that an always-on connection has been a requirement. Previous games have made do with the usual suite of multiplayer options, kept separate from the offline singleplayer and LAN modes.
Why exactly EA has decided to change things up isn’t yet clear, because we don’t yet know all that much about Ghost Games’ reboot. A leaked promo features list from the Xbox store that was posted on Reddit promises ”5 unique ways to play, Speed, Style, Build, Crew and Outlaw.”, extreme customisation, and the ability to ”carve your own unique path, via multiple overlapping stories, gaining reputation on your journey to become the ultimate icon.” It also lists the release date as November 3 this year. The link was quickly shut down, but you can see a screengrab above.
