Need for Speed Rivals is a 2013 racing video game developed in collaboration between Ghost Games and Criterion Games, and published by Electronic Arts. It is the twentieth installment in the Need for Speed series, and the debut title for Ghost Games (the formally named EA Gothenburg; which would be the main developer of all subsequent non-mobile installments up until 2020).
Rivals was well received by critics at E3 2013 and was awarded with "Best Racing Game" from Game Critics Awards. It received mostly positive reviews upon release. It was followed in 2015 by the mobile game Need for Speed: No Limits, and the self-titled reboot. The online services for Rivals shut down on 7 October 2025, though the game continues to be playable offline.
Gameplay
Features
Need for Speed Rivals is a racing game and features gameplay similar to earlier Need for Speed titles, such as Criterion's Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Rivals uses the Frostbite 3 engine. The development team opted to target 30 FPS across all platforms instead of 60 FPS, because of the AllDrive feature.
AllDrive is the system used to seamlessly matchmake players within the same open world. Another reason was due to the number of players able to be in the same world at the same time.
Rivals is the first cross-platform next-gen game to achieve a native 1080p across both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Talk of resolutions and frame rates became a major point of contention between Sony and Microsoft's new consoles after it emerged that both Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 run at a higher resolution on Sony's PS4 console as compared to Microsoft's Xbox One.
Roles and progression After completing the prologue (tutorial), players choose a faction—Cop or Racer—to start their own tasks. Players can switch between factions at a hideout (Racer) or a command post (Cop). Cops can choose from the three car specifications: Patrol, Undercover, and Enforcer.
Most of the story takes place through cutscenes, with the chosen character voicing their opinions on current events in the game. Story progression is made through completing speed lists as a racer or assignments as a cop.
Missions Rivals features a career progression system for both Cop and Racer. Progression is made by means of Speedlists for Racer and Assignments for Cop, which are sets of objectives which involve dangerous driving, maneuvers, and race standings. Upon completion of each set of objectives, the player levels up and unlocks new content, and is presented with another set of objectives to choose from.
Weapon system Similar to the 2010 Hot Pursuit, players can use weapons, referred to as Pursuit Tech, to attack other players or AI cars, or otherwise defend themselves. Players can equip from two of each side's six available weapons, each of which can be enhanced, although upgrades are limited to a certain level based on the max level of the car's Pursuit Tech. Besides electrostatic field and EMP (electromagnetic pulse), which are the only weapons available to both factions, Cops can deploy shock rams, assemble roadblocks, request helicopter support, or drop spike strips, while Racers can deploy radar jammers, trigger shockwaves, drop stun mines, or activate turbo boosts.
Online system The Autolog system, a competition-between-friends system developed by Criterion for Hot Pursuit, records the player's completion time for each event, Speedlist or Assignment. These times are posted to Speed Walls for local and global leaderboards to be compared to other players' times.
Rivals features a new social system called the AllDrive, which allows players to transition from playing alone to playing with others, described as "destroying the line between single player and multiplayer". This allows players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay. The game also features a dynamic weather system, which makes "the world feel alive in a much bigger sense than any other Need for Speed game".
As of October 2025, the Online services for the game have been shut down.
Vehicle modification Rivals also takes on some gameplay features of earlier Underground titles in the franchise with cues on aesthetic vehicle personalization, such as paint jobs, decals, rims and license plates and liveries can be modified, as well as vehicle performance, and various 'Pursuit Tech' gadgets. With the exception for the Aston Martin Vanquish (and most DLC cars), all cars in the game are only available to either the Racers or the Cops.
Map and background Need for Speed Rivals takes place in the fictional Redview County. The open world environment features a similar set-up to Most Wanted, with several jumps, speed traps, and unlockable cars, as well as shortcuts that are not shown on the map.
The map's design took heavy inspiration from the landscapes of the Western United States, with the setting's open world map consisting of over of road. The northern part of the map takes inspiration from Californian coastline towns like Santa Monica, the eastern part consists of woods similar to the redwood forests of northern California and snowy mountainside based on the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the southern part is a rocky desert based on the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and the western and central parts are based on contemporary rural America.
Plot The player can choose to play as either a racer or a cop. In the Racer story, the player assumes the role of a street racer known as Zephyr. In the Cop story, the player takes on the role of an unnamed, newly initiated police officer. As the player completes the objectives on the Speedlists or Assignments, story cutscenes are revealed, each of which appears to be connected with the other.
In an attempt to make himself known to the public, street racer Zephyr uploads a video of him outrunning the police along the streets of Redview County. Within a few days, other racers begin replicating what Zephyr did in the video. As a result, the racers have become more public in their criminal acts and increasingly more dangerous, committing more acts of damage to property as they speed through the streets. The Redview County Police Department responds by increasing their punitive measures in an attempt to bring the racers to justice, resulting in public backlash. Later on, an RCPD officer named John McManis is injured while attempting to keep up with the racers. Public outcry swings back in support of the police, leading the rookie officer to swear revenge on the racers.
However, further increase in police intimidation and accusations of 'excessive force' leads to all RCPD officers being placed under probationary suspension, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation sends in the Vehicle Response Team to take the police's place. Realizing the new threat, Zephyr begins taking on the VRT as he continues to defy the authorities. Angered by Zephyr's recklessness and a lack of response to his actions, the cop decides to go rogue as a vigilante under the name F-8 (alternatively pronounced fate), taking an impounded Ferrari Enzo out to the streets, where he wreaks havoc by taking down street racers under the guise of a fellow racer. This causes the FBI to take an interest in F-8, sending him an invitation to join the VRT. Knowing this, F-8 immediately gives up his vigilante persona and accepts the invitation. At the same time, all police units have been called back on active duty.
Zephyr eventually discovers who F-8 really is and decides to retaliate, stealing a decommissioned Koenigsegg Agera police car and respraying it in his style. He then uses the car to attract police attention and wreck police units coming after him. Later on, the RCPD has been cleared of all accusations against its officers, causing public outrage as the VRT stays in Redview County. The subsequent increase in police activity and discontent over the violent arrests of street racers leads Zephyr to release a public message to the RCPD, demanding that they stop their brutality. He then issues an open challenge to both the racers and the cops, a race around Redview County, so that the two sides of the law could resolve their differences once and for all. Meanwhile, F-8, now a top officer at the VRT, is tasked with locating Zephyr and taking him down, being the only one able to do so. He eventually succeeds in intercepting Zephyr's radio communications. Upon learning of Zephyr's message, F-8 sets out to stop the infamous street racer for good.
Endings There are two endings, one for the Racer story and another for the Cop story. As with all preceding story cutscenes, these endings are connected to each other, with the cop ending being both concurrent and subsequent to the racer ending.
At the end of the Racer story, right after he completes the decisive race, Zephyr runs into a police blockade, causing him to crash violently. A subsequent news report shows Zephyr's car smoking heavily behind trees, even going so far as to suggest he has been killed in the crash. However, Zephyr is revealed to have just survived the crash. While barely awake, he starts up his badly damaged car in an attempt to drive away, with the screen fading to black as the engine roars.
At the end of the Cop story, F-8 is revealed to have been involved in a collision with Zephyr, likely shortly before the latter's own collision with the police blockade, and wrecks his car in the ensuing crash, leaving him in critical condition. A following news report also reveals that F-8 has been terminated from the RCPD for his recklessness and dangerous actions leading up to the crash. Sometime later, F-8 suddenly resurfaces as a street racer, having apparently taken over Zephyr's mantle, and issues a challenge to fellow racers in Redview County via a video, declaring himself their rival.
History
After the commercial and critical success of 2010's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Criterion Games executives stated that they wanted to draw from the series' roots and re-introduce old Need for Speed ideals.
However, in 2011, EA Black Box released Need for Speed: The Run, which received mixed reviews.
In 2012, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau said that although he was proud of the Black Box-developed installment, "he didn't want a 60, I want an 80+". On the subject of EA Black Box, Gibeau said the publisher would not be changing its alternating studio strategy.
At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, Criterion vice president Alex Ward announced that the days of random developers churning out yearly Need for Speed installments were over. Ward would not confirm that all Need for Speed titles for the future would be developed wholly by Criterion, but did say that the studio would have "strong involvement" in them.
With EA Canada and Black Box restructured and refocused towards online and free-to-play games in February 2012, EA had already formed a new studio in 2011, EA Gothenburg. Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, it was reported that the studio would focus on developing games using the Frostbite game engine. Also reported was that the studio was developing a game "in the Need For Speed franchise".
According to the CVs of employees, much of the studio's staff had worked previously on major racing titles, including Forza Horizon, Need for Speed: The Run, Project Gotham Racing and Race Pro.
On 22 October 2012, the series main developer Criterion Games confirmed that EA Gothenburg was working on a title in the Need for Speed franchise, but did not reveal the level of involvement or when the title would be released.
On 15 November 2012, EA Gothenburg was rebranded as Ghost Games. Ghost's website went live around the same time and called for potential staff to apply for a range of open positions.