EA leaks its own Need for Speed: Unbound reveal

Need for Speed: Unbound
(Image credit: EA)

Need for Speed: Unbound is the title of the next entry in EA's venerable racing series, according to art leaked from the publisher's own website.

Today, EA announced that the new Need for Speed will be officially revealed on October 6 at 8am PDT / 11am EDT / 4pm BST on YouTube. (That's less than 48 hours away, as this story goes live.) "Be amongst the first to see the evolution of Need for Speed," the video description suggests. "Go fast and get noticed in the latest installment from veteran developer Criterion Games."

Fans quickly dug through the official Need for Speed website to discover a piece of key art for Need for Speed: Unbound, revealing the title for the new game several days early. The image shows a car burning rubber through city streets - as you'd expect from the series - kicking up smoke that's filled with anarchy symbols and dollar signs.

In a recent financial report, EA listed the next Need for Speed title for launch in its third financial quarter for 2022, meaning the game is expected to launch between October 1 and December 31 of this year. We've also learned that Dirt and Grid studio Codemasters will be assisting Criterion on the new NFS.

Unofficially, rumors have suggested that this new game will be a new-gen exclusive. Either way, it looks like we can say one thing for sure: in terms of racing game names, Ridge Racer Unbounded was a decade ahead of its time.

Take the wheel in our list of the best racing games.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Read more
Need For Speed Unbound
The Need For Speed series is pumping the brakes as "Criterion are joining their colleagues working on Battlefield" instead of tuning more cars
Battlefield 2042 screenshot
EA says Battlefield 6 will launch before April 2026
JDM Japanese Drift Master
The Initial D-inspired open-world racing game that took over Steam Next Fest in 2023 finally launches this March
Japanese Drift Master appearing in FGS Live From GDC
After a years-long way, this Initial D-inspired open-world racing game is now just a few weeks away
Battlefield 4
"Campaign is back": Battlefield 6 suddenly emerges with 10 seconds of gameplay footage, 4 separate development studios, and a closed pre-alpha test
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds announcement trailer proves Sega is coming for Mario Kart 9's throne with transforming cars and a closed beta this month
Latest in Need For Speed
Need For Speed Unbound
The Need For Speed series is pumping the brakes as "Criterion are joining their colleagues working on Battlefield" instead of tuning more cars
Need for Speed Unbound release time
Need for Speed Unbound release time explained
Need For Speed Unbound crossplay
Need for Speed Unbound crossplay and Lakeshore Online mode explained
Need for Speed Unbound
This Need For Speed Unbound car horn is just A$AP Rocky saying "beep beep"
Need for Speed: Unbound
Need for Speed Unbound leaks online ahead of next week's release
Need for Speed Unbound
Need for Speed Unbound driving effects let you set your own level of anime
Latest in News
Dragon's Dogma 2 screenshot showing a young female Pawn with short brown hair holding her right hand up, a glow emanating from it
Devil May Cry and Dragon's Dogma director Hideaki Itsuno says he's working on a new AAA action game that'll make you say "'I've never seen that in a game before'"
Astro Bot
Astro Bot director says precisely what the industry needs to hear: "It's OK to make a small game" because "players today have a backlog of games" they can't complete
Marvel Rivals: Ignite #1
Marvel Rivals goes manga in a new comic from Peach Momoko and three other Japanese artists that reveals several new in-game costumes
Balatro
Even Balatro's publisher doesn't know when LocalThunk will be done with 1.1: "Maybe I should whisper in his ear, like, 'So how's those 200 new jokers coming?'"
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows reaches 1 million players on day one, and it sounds like even Ubisoft's having a tough time believing it: "It's not even 4PM here"
Pal wields a massive turret in a screenshot from Palworld
Palworld devs tried, but the "certain franchise plus guns" brand in the West "has stuck with us to this very day despite our best efforts to shake that off"