EA Promises Most Wanted Will Be Better Than The Run

EA has said that it will not ignore the poor reception of last year’s Need for Speed: The Run but promises that the upcoming reboot of NFS: Most Wanted will be better. Speaking to CVG, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau said that although he’s happy with developer Black Box’s work on The Run, “I don’t want a 60, I want an 80+”.

Most Wanted is however being developed by Burnout and Hot Pursuit developer, Criterion which should give it a better chance already given Black Box’s poor track-record over their last few NFS titles.

“We’re not happy with the reception that we got on Need for Speed: The Run. We tried a lot of new things; we added linear moments and action scenes between level to try and spice it up… but frankly it just didn’t come together to the level of quality that I wanted or that the Need for Speed team wanted.

“So we’re going to try something different and Criterion is going to take a shot at innovating in that category.”

Gibeau continued: “[The Run] did well and there’s a lot about it that we really liked and were impressed with, but ultimately we want to make 80-90 rated games and it was a bit of a shock to see how poorly received it was with some editorial groups and customers.

“We don’t ignore that feedback, but we don’t curl up into a ball and cry either. We try to do something about it. Criterion were always planned to be on this next one. Now it’s the time to dial it up and go even bigger.”

Gibeau also revealed that EA would be keeping it’s Call of Duty-style dual developer model where Black Box will alternate with Criterion.

“We’re going to continue to pursue the dual strategy of alternating studios and that will always be the strategy, but we will optimise the business to maximise quality and to maximise what we need to do.”

It doesn’t mean much that he’s said this but it is somehow reassuring when you consider that Crierion’s track-record of late is considerably better.