Our award-winning Criterion studio took a bold, new approach with the development of Need for Speed™ Unbound, which was released worldwide in late 2022. Putting our players in the driver’s seat of their own street racing fantasy, NFS Unbound introduced an immersive narrative and a unique visual style, blending elements of street art with the most realistic looking cars in the franchise’s history.

Following its release we sat down with John Stanley, who is part of the development team, to hear about what it was like bringing this innovative game to life…

Q: Can you tell us about your career and path into gaming?

A: I have been working for Electronic Arts (EA) for 12 years now, and it’s been an amazing ride! I’ve been fortunate to work on some of our most beloved franchises from Harry Potter, Battlefield, StarWars Battlefront, StarWars VR (what a project that was!) and, of course, Need For Speed! NFS Unbound is the seventh game I’ve worked on in the franchise and I can safely say it's in my veins now!

Q: What role did you play in making NFS Unbound?

A: My role as Gameplay Design Director on Unbound was to lead the design for our campaign. At a high level, that involved me being a connector with lots of our disciplines –Art, Audio, UI, UX, Engineering, Design, and the list goes on. I set the high-level direction and then worked with my Design team to flesh out features.

Q: What was your favourite part of working on the game?

A: The cliché of “too many to choose from” comes to mind! However, I will call out a few. Working with A$AP Rocky on the soundtrack and for the Takeover scene was a pleasure and an eye-opener! A truly innovative, creative, and lyrical powerhouse, seeing this first-hand was such a privilege but the eye-opening part was his humility and humble nature, how he wanted to collaborate, was thankful for being part of the game and wanted to go the extra mile to make sure he was putting his best out for us and the players! In a similar vein, working with the supremely knowledgeable Professor H. Samy Alim (H. Samy Alim - UCLA Department of Anthropology). Samy was instrumental in helping us gain a deeper understanding of the Hip Hop scene, the culture that comes with it and how we could authentically represent that in the game. I loved this part of the project as authentic representation is super important to me for our players and for the racing scene.

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