10 Times Publishers Screwed Over A Video Game

Like Conker, it’s more Need For Speed overall which has been screwed over by its publisher. EA didn’t cut the heart out of this racer with a single mangled release; instead it was death by a thousand cuts.

The earliest releases merged car customisation, arcade style action and realistic racing simulations together with ease. They were brilliantly creative games which cornered the market with their own brand of racing sim. More focussed than Burnout, more fun than Gran Turismo, edgier than Forza... the game was in a world of its own.

The only game which tried to compete with it was Midnight Club, which ran out a distant second best.

However, with that success came extra pressure and interest. With EA steering, the games became less about innovation and more about mass market appeal. In order to secure frequent releases, the game was bounced from developer to developer, with no cohesion or identity.

Any attitude it once had was gone.

As is typical of EA, the playthroughs became overloaded with microtransactions. Any sense of progress was stripped away, lootboxed up, and sold back to the player at a premium.

Need For Speed: Payback was the final straw, and may as well have been called Pay Up.