Several Need for Speed games have been well-received critically, and the franchise has been one of the most successful of all time, selling over 150 million copies as of October 2013.

[4] The Need for Speed series was originally developed by Distinctive Software, a video game studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Prior to Electronic Arts' purchase of the company in 1991,[5] it had created popular racing games such as Stunts and Test Drive II: The Duel.

[8] As a result of Hot Pursuit's critical success, in-contrast to the mixed reception of the Black Box-developed installments since 2007's Need for Speed: ProStreet, Criterion would become the lead developer of the franchise going forward.

Each game except Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has car tuning which can set options for items like ABS, traction control, or downforce, or for upgrading parts like the engine or gearbox.

Visual tuning of the player's car becomes important in tournament/career mode after the release of Need for Speed: Underground 2, when the appearance is rated from zero to ten points.

The first installment of The Need for Speed was the only serious attempt by the series to provide a realistic simulation of car handling elements through the direct collaboration of Staff members from Road & Track.

It featured support for DirectX 2 and TCP/IP networking, two new tracks, but dropped the ever-popular flip and go in favor of the more generic scene reset after an accident, a portents of the arcade-style gaming that would dominate the series ever after.

It also introduced a series of economy-based tournaments, awarding players with a cash prize that can be spent on repairing, purchasing, or upgrading cars for subsequent races.

Hot Pursuit 2 draws primarily from the gameplay and style of NFS III, putting emphasis on evading the police and over-the-top tracks.

For the multiplayer mode of the PC version, GameSpy's internet matchmaking system was used in place of Local Area Network (LAN) play.

Underground features tuner cars and has a wide variety of tuning options such as widebody kits, bumpers, spoilers, as well as performance upgrades such as engines and nitrous.

The most significant change vs. the original Underground was the introduction of its open world (free roam) environments,[124] setting the tone for numerous NFS games to come.

Players were required to customize their car to a certain numerical value in order to be offered DVD and magazine covers, the only way to advance to higher game levels.

Police chases represent a significant body of the gameplay, and includes the free-roaming aspect of Underground 2, but with less extensive vehicle customization features.

The game featured the Blacklist, a crew consisting of 15 racers that the player must beat one-by-one to unlock parts, cars, tracks, and to complete career mode.

A special Black Edition of Most Wanted was also released, featuring additional races, challenges, and a few bonus cars; it also included a behind-the-scenes DVD.

The game focused on tuning and police chases, featured over 50 cars, and took place in a fictional city called Tri-City Bay.

Also included were specially tuned versions of ten existing cars, plus 35 exclusive vinyls for adding a unique visual style.

Need for Speed: Nitro is the first NFS game made exclusively for Nintendo DS and Wii, featuring arcade-style gameplay and targeting a casual audience, released in 2009.

It took on the gameplay style of Most Wanted and Carbon, focusing on illegal street racing, tuning and police chases, and adding classic MMO elements to the mix.

[131][132] The game was in public beta-testing limited to residents of Taiwan in October 2009 Need for Speed World closed its servers in July 2015.

[135] Unlike previous NFS titles, there was no customization, and the game takes place in a fictional rural area called Seacrest County, which the "free roam" feature lets you explore.

The game continued the street-racing gameplay of Black Box's previous titles, with a story based on a race across the United States from San Francisco to New York.

Set in Ventura Bay, the game has five different gameplay styles in which points are collected in order to progress through five overlapping storylines, in addition having a redesigned 'Wrap Editor' and body car modifications.

The portfolio page of a former presentation director of EA Black Box says the "goal" of the game was to answer the question "How can large scale street races take place in a post 911 US city?"

Concept art depicts a group of street racers named "TerrorFive", alongside a mockup of gameplay in which players seemingly hack into police cars.

It would have seen the player and friends go on adventures after a lottery win and the purchase of many supercars, described by Criterion director Alex Ward as "Freeburn meets Top Gear challenges".

[162] Need for Speed Mobile (known as Need for Speed: Assemble in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau) is an upcoming free-to-play Open world racing mobile game developed by TiMi Studios and published by Electronic Arts for worldwide and Tencent Interactive Entertainment for China and Garena for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

[165] EA worked with DreamWorks Pictures to create a film version of Need for Speed starring Aaron Paul as Tobey Marshall, a mechanic and street racer who was framed by a wealthy business associate.