Electronic Arts’ and Criterion’s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit sold 417,000 units at U.S. retail in November, the game’s debut month, Cowen analyst Doug Creutz said in a Friday post-NPD research note.
According to Gamasutra this number is excluding PC sales.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Criterion Games™, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced the all-new Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit Super Sports content pack for the award winning Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. The content pack expands the superior racing, intense police chases and addictive rivalries found in Need for Speed Hot Pursuit with 13 new race and pursuit events and three of the world’s fastest supercars: Porsche 911 GT2 RS, GUMPERT Apollo S and Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. Each vehicle was carefully chosen for their unsurpassed performance, speed and ability for players to post the fastest times on their speed wall and push the limits of social competition. All of the cars will be available as a cop and a racer, so players can use these powerful machines to either enforce or evade the law.
“…if you compare Shift and Gran Turismo, I actually do see Shift as a direct competitor to Gran Turismo for sure. Honestly, my take on this. Would I want to compete with Gran Turismo on sheer scale – meaning number of cars and the depth that they have in the game? Probably not. What does make sense to me… I think they have a very sterile, almost car collecting type of product where that’s mainly what we do and I think we can offer something different… Our idea is that if we can offer the most authentic driving experience and portray what it feels like being inside a race car, then I think that’s where we can excel and where we absolutely will beat them. That I know for sure.” – EA senior VP Patrick Soderlund
There is a huge fan base for GT5 that is fine with waiting several years for each installment and will buy the hell out of it when each one comes out. This isn’t a slam against NFS, but that franchise doesn’t even come close to competing on that level.
Internationally Acclaimed ‘Autolog’ Network Raises the Bar in Social Competition
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Criterion Games™, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit is now available at retail stores in North America. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit has received worldwide acclaim for its superior racing, intense police chases and addictive social competition. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit has already earned perfect scores from PlayStation: The Official Magazine, GamesRadar.com, 1UP.com and Joysitq.com, and 9.3 out of 10 from GamesMaster magazine in the UK. GamesRadar.com even said that there’s “no better racing game out there” and IGN says that the game “breathes new life into the time-honored tradition of video game competition among friends.”
The Highest Rated Need for Speed Game Wins Praise from Critics Worldwide for Innovative ‘Autolog’ Network That Delivers Unprecedented Social Competition
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Criterion Games™, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that during the two weeks of its availability (from Oct 26 — Nov 9), more than two million players took to the streets of Seacrest County in the Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit demo. Players competed as both cops and racers in two events while sampling Hot Pursuit’s revolutionary social network, Need for Speed Autolog, which seamlessly connects players with their friends while automatically tracking and comparing each person’s performances. Autolog serves up challenges based on what their friends have been doing, creating a simple, yet brilliantly dynamic social-gaming experience.
