Final update will make Need for Speed: Heat EA’s first cross-play game

By Aaron Mamiit June 8, 2020

The final update for Need for Speed: Heat will add cross-play to the racing game, which will make it the first Electronic Arts title to offer the feature.

Need for Speed: Heat, released in November, was the fourth game in the racing franchise developed by Ghost Games between 2013 and 2019. However, as part of a restructuring, the series is returning to Criterion Games, the studio behind 2010’s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and 2012’s Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

Criterion Games General Manager Matt Webster, in a letter to the Need for Speed community, said that the studio will release a June 9 update for Need for Speed: Heat that will allow players on the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One to race against each other.

Once the update is installed, the game will offer the option to activate cross-play. Players will be able to search for their friends in the Find Players menu, and the new EA Friends tab in the Party Menu will show who is online on all platforms.

More Need for Speed: Heat players are also on the way, as the game will be made available in EA Access and Origin Access Basic Vault on June 16, according to Webster. This follows its addition, alongside several other Electronic Arts games, to Steam.

“With these insights, we have a terrific foundation to create the most expressive, most socially connected, action-packed game yet for Need for Speed fans and beyond,” Webster wrote.

Webster also said that Need for Speed fans should tune in to EA Play Live, which was rescheduled to June 18, hinting that the next game in the series may be revealed at the upcoming digital event.

With Need for Speed: Heat claiming the distinction as the first Electronic Arts game to go cross-play, it remains to be seen if more games by the publisher, such as Apex Legends and FIFA 20, will incorporate the feature. Digital Trends has reached out to Electronic Arts for comment. We will update this article as soon as we hear back.

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