A new job posting for publisher Tencent points to Pokémon Unite developer TiMi Studio Group as the team behind an unannounced Need for Speed mobile game. TiMi Studio Group has its hands on many a big-name mobile title, including 2015's Honor of Kings and 2019's Call of Duty Mobile, the latter of which raked in an astronomical $480 million in its first year on the market. Pokémon Unite, a free-to-play MOBA, will no doubt enjoy much success, as well.
The most recent Need for Speed experience hit store shelves in the form of Need for Speed Heat in late 2019. Helmed by Ghost Games, which EA has since repurposed as the support team EA Gothenburg, NFS Heat drove players to Miami-inspired Palm City, where the tension between racers and police drastically increased after dark. Now NFS: Most Wanted studio Criterion Games is back in the driver's seat as the brand's primary developer, though EA put the new Need for Speed game on hold so Criterion could assist with Battlefield 2042. New information suggests the Guildford, UK-based team isn't the only one hard at work on getting Need for Speed back on track.
As spotted by Reddit user RemKiad, a posting on the Tencent Careers page reveals that Pokémon Unite developer TiMi Studio is working on an open-world NFS game codenamed Need for Speed Online Mobile. The publisher is specifically looking to hire 3D animators, gameplay planners, project managers, and design specialists for its Shanghai and Shenzhen locales, GamingonPhone noted. Interestingly, one of the positions will be responsible for "the design of the various gameplay modes of the big world realistic racing mobile game or the design of the racing 3C experience."
It's worth noting that EA has yet to unveil plans for a mobile Need for Speed experience, let alone an open-world game from the Pokémon Unite group. But the publisher's apparent pursuit of such an endeavor doesn't surprise, especially considering its investment in Battlefield Mobile, a free-to-play military shooter in production at Industrial Toys.
Need for Speed first raced onto the scene in 1994 with the launch of The Need for Speed on home consoles and PC. The series has remained a staple of the racing genre in the nearly three decades since then, thanks to two dozen releases spread across various platforms.
Neither EA nor Tencent have formally announced the Need for Speed mobile game.
Source: Tencent Careers via RemKiad/Reddit, GamingonPhone