With Need for Speed devs working on Battlefield, EA's beloved car culture site Speedhunters seems to have shut off its engine

17-year-old outlet has gone eerily quiescent implicit the past fewer months

If you've played a Need For Speed crippled successful the past decade, likelihood are you've seen plentifulness of cars with Speedhunters stickers slapped determination amid immoderate delightfully tacky livery their driver's decided to rock. Now, though, it looks similar the EA-owned car civilization tract has gone dormant, with reports claiming it mightiness person been unopen down.

This quality comes arsenic improvement of NFS astatine EA is connected a hiatus, with devs astatine Criterion having been drafted successful to assistance present the adjacent Battlefield, though exec Vince Zampella has hinted that determination are inactive plans for the racing bid going forwards.

As reported by The Drive, Speedhunters' tract hasn't had immoderate caller stories published to it since April 3. Links to its store instrumentality an mistake message, and its Instagram relationship boasts an ominous achromatic void arsenic a illustration photo.

The Drive reports having heard that Speedhunters mightiness been unopen down. We've reached retired to EA for comment.

Founded successful 2008 by Rod Chong, Speedhunters person been backed by EA since "since time one", with the assorted car-related articles and photography they've delivered implicit the years having been interspersed with plentifulness of NFS sum and promo. As precocious arsenic December past year, the tract were penning astir the peculiar Most Wanted BMW M3 that released successful commemoration of the NFS series' 30th anniversary, having besides covered updates to NFS Unbound successful 2024.

As I alluded to earlier, Speedhunters has besides been a regular beingness successful NFS games themselves via those ubiquitous stickers. One of its journalists, Dino Dalle Carbonare, adjacent made a cameo successful utterly forgettable mobile crippled NFS: No Limits.

In a Reddit remark responding to chatter astir Speedhunters' unclear situation, erstwhile contributor Paddy McGrath wrote the following:

I haven't been progressive successful immoderate meaningful mode with the tract implicit the past fewer years (although my sanction is inactive listed arsenic a contributor). I did person the volition of submitting stories erstwhile I could successful the future, but that doesn't look similar it's going to beryllium imaginable anymore.

FWIW, determination were truthful galore times that Speedhunters was circling the drain implicit the past decade. We seldom knew up of clip if our contracts would beryllium renewed each year. A batch of superb and dedicated radical enactment a batch of enactment successful to support things going arsenic agelong arsenic it did.

As you mightiness know, Speedhunters was founded and supported by EA from time one. It wouldn't person existed without them. However, Speedhunters was specified a tiny task successful an different monolithic institution that it was ne'er going to get the attraction & resources it needed to grow, IMO. Why would they walk clip connected a website selling immoderate merchandise erstwhile they person aggregate cardinal dollar video crippled brands to thin to?

As clip passed, and the archetypal EA radical progressive successful the instauration of Speedhunters moved onto different things, it became much and much hard to support the task afloat. I knew this time was inevitable, truthful made the determination years agone to diversify my lawsuit basal and instrumentality each of my eggs retired of the Speedhunters basket. I americium genuinely bittersweet that this does look similar the extremity for it, it deserved truthful overmuch better.

Here's hoping Speedhunters hasn't done its past acceptable of doughnuts successful beforehand of immoderate costly cameras.