Need for Speed Payback

Need for Speed Payback is a racing game set in the open world environment of Fortune Valley; a fictional version of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is focused on "action driving" and has three playable characters (each with different sets of skills) working together to pull off action movie-like sequences. The game features an offline single-player mode. Unlike the 2015 Need for Speed reboot, Payback features a 24-hour day-night cycle. Numerous activities are available throughout Fortune Valley for players to complete, including speed traps, speed zones, long jumps, billboard smashes, and drift zones, and players can collect casino chips scattered across the map.

Events include street races and drag races, both handled by Tyler, off-road races and drift events, both handled by Mac, and runner work, which is handled by Jess, all of which rewards players with bank and REP. Before starting an event, "side bets" are given to players which give them extra bank in exchange for some if they complete it. Unlike previous installments, where police chases are a staple of the series, players do not accumulate "heat" after completing events, and police cars do not roam the map in search of players. Police chases are instead triggered by scripted events during the campaign and pursuit boxes found around Fortune Valley.

Tyler "Ty" Morgan (Jack Derges), Sean "Mac" McAlister (David Ajala), Jessica "Jess" Miller (Jessica Madsen) and mechanic Ravindra "Rav" Chaudhry (Ramon Tikaram) are part of a crew in Silver Rock, Fortune Valley. Fixer Lina Navarro (Dominique Tipper) tasks them with stealing a precious Koenigsegg Regera belonging to Marcus "The Gambler" Weir. However, as Tyler arrives at the drop point, he finds Rav knocked out. Lina appears, revealing that she set up Tyler and his crew to take the fall for the stolen car and she drives away, leaving them at the mercy of the oncoming police force. Upon learning that Lina betrayed both of them, Weir initially considers leaving Tyler to be arrested, but instead protects him, planning their revenge.

Six months later, working as a valet for Weir, Tyler spots Lina threatening Weir to hand over the casino to The House, a cartel who controls Fortune Valley's underworld. Frustrated at the lack of progress, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Contacting The House as a racer, he enters and wins a race, despite Lina having rigged it for profit. Weir proposes Tyler a way to take down The House and Lina along with it.

In January 2016, Ghost Games began development on the next Need for Speed game to be released in 2017. Electronic Arts later confirmed in their January 2017 earnings call that the next game in the franchise was in development and set to be launched during EA's fiscal year 2018 (comprising from April 2017 to March 2018).

Need for Speed Payback received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

Luke Reilly of IGN praised Electronic Arts for repairing the problems of the game's predecessor, Need for Speed, but criticized its "scripted" story, lack of police chases during free roam, scripted police chases, loot box-like mechanisms during customization, poor car handling, unrealistic car damage and several other issues. PC World criticized the game for being full of microtransactions, the severely limited customizability of cars, gameplay mechanics, a lack of cockpit view and several more issues, and compared it harshly to the Forza Horizon series. GameRant ranked the game last in a ranking of every Need For Speed game.