The Game Census
Need for Speed™ Unbound cover art

Need for Speed™ Unbound

Criterion Games · Electronic Arts · 2022-12-01

SteamPlayStation StoreEpic Games StoreAmazonMicrosoft Store

ActionRacing

Franchise: Need for Speed · Modes: Single player, Multiplayer

Releases: Dec 02, 2022 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Nov 29, 2022 (Xbox Series X|S), Nov 29, 2022 (PlayStation 5)

Race to the top, definitely don’t flop. Outsmart the cops, and enter weekly qualifiers for The Grand: the ultimate street race. Pack your garage with precision-tuned, custom rides, and light up the streets with your style.

756
playing now
60%
positive of 60k reviews
Mixed
steam rating
1,000,000–2,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
19
twitch viewers (latest)
77/100
critic score (6 outlets, IGDB)
71/100
IGDB user rating (87 ratings)
17h
time to beat (IGDB)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$69.99
steam price (US)

756 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 01:00 UTC (census sample)

Need for Speed Unbound is a 2022 racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on December 2, 2022. An Amazon Luna port was released on June 12, 2025. Unbound is the twenty-fifth instalment in the Need for Speed series, and the successor to 2019's Heat which additionally commemorates the series' 30th anniversary. It is the first game in the series to be developed by Criterion since 2013's Rivals and the studio's first as the main developer of the series since 2012's Most Wanted.

Health check

Healthy
  • · 756 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 4,976 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~622/week).
  • · Review velocity down 19% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 4% of 10,710 Action games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 1.2M–2.7M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 60,075 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Microsoft Store$10.49-85%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $4.89 at EA Store (2024-11-20)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $69.99 · on sale 27 of 42 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
4.1k4.1k20222026Week of 2022-12-01: 4,060 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 1,618 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 1,505 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 1,175 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 519 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 326 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 478 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 427 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 219 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 152 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 1,032 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 745 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 618 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 408 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 921 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 637 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 369 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 279 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 392 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 320 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 271 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 199 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 1,814 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 421 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 886 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 681 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 778 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 579 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 843 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 669 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 1,138 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 894 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 526 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 377 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 779 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 551 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 388 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 292 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 538 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 402 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 1,041 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 778 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 472 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 366 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 296 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 269 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 946 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 425 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 1,890 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 1,240 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 769 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 570 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 519 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 351 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 666 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 511 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 428 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 232 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 466 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 353 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 342 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 256 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 423 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 327 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 861 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 645 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 424 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 259 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 317 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 241 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 332 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 212 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 467 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 286 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 452 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 275 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 369 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 234 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 431 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 344 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 333 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 218 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 314 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 224 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 315 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 202 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 314 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 198 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 676 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 513 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

3.4k6182026-08-06 21:00 — 2,342 players2026-08-07 05:00 — 1,662 players2026-08-07 13:00 — 2,908 players2026-08-07 21:00 — 2,396 players2026-08-08 05:00 — 1,769 players2026-08-08 13:00 — 3,153 players2026-08-08 21:00 — 2,553 players2026-08-09 05:00 — 1,939 players2026-08-09 13:00 — 3,371 players2026-08-09 21:00 — 2,428 players2026-08-10 05:00 — 1,435 players2026-08-10 14:00 — 2,733 players2026-08-10 22:00 — 1,975 players2026-08-11 06:00 — 1,361 players2026-08-11 14:00 — 2,811 players2026-08-12 21:00 — 1,945 players2026-08-14 05:00 — 1,164 players2026-08-15 13:00 — 2,245 players2026-08-16 21:00 — 1,894 players2026-08-18 04:00 — 868 players2026-08-19 12:00 — 1,415 players2026-08-20 19:00 — 1,300 players2026-08-22 03:00 — 918 players2026-08-23 10:00 — 1,309 players2026-08-24 18:00 — 1,382 players2026-08-26 02:00 — 690 players2026-08-27 09:00 — 795 players2026-08-28 17:00 — 1,224 players2026-08-30 01:00 — 756 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$69.99$4.892022-10-062026-08-262022-10-06 — best price $69.992023-01-10 — best price $69.992023-02-16 — best price $69.992023-04-06 — best price $34.992023-05-29 — best price $69.992023-06-30 — best price $20.992023-08-03 — best price $69.992023-09-18 — best price $69.992023-10-28 — best price $20.992023-11-28 — best price $69.992024-01-10 — best price $69.992024-02-12 — best price $69.992024-03-28 — best price $69.992024-05-14 — best price $9.792024-06-27 — best price $9.792024-08-05 — best price $6.992024-10-03 — best price $69.992024-11-27 — best price $4.892025-01-02 — best price $69.992025-02-24 — best price $69.992025-04-09 — best price $69.992025-05-21 — best price $9.792025-07-10 — best price $69.992025-08-11 — best price $69.992025-09-29 — best price $8.392025-12-11 — best price $6.992026-01-08 — best price $69.992026-02-10 — best price $69.992026-03-12 — best price $6.992026-04-23 — best price $9.792026-06-11 — best price $69.992026-07-16 — best price $6.992026-08-08 — best price $4.892026-08-12 — best price $4.892026-08-26 — best price $10.49
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

7653632026-05-28 — 508 pageviews2026-05-31 — 547 pageviews2026-06-03 — 512 pageviews2026-06-06 — 519 pageviews2026-06-09 — 410 pageviews2026-06-12 — 457 pageviews2026-06-15 — 387 pageviews2026-06-18 — 405 pageviews2026-06-21 — 416 pageviews2026-06-24 — 456 pageviews2026-06-27 — 482 pageviews2026-06-30 — 433 pageviews2026-07-03 — 390 pageviews2026-07-06 — 397 pageviews2026-07-09 — 560 pageviews2026-07-12 — 626 pageviews2026-07-15 — 531 pageviews2026-07-18 — 481 pageviews2026-07-21 — 420 pageviews2026-07-24 — 435 pageviews2026-07-27 — 432 pageviews2026-07-30 — 469 pageviews2026-08-02 — 521 pageviews2026-08-05 — 765 pageviews2026-08-08 — 546 pageviews2026-08-11 — 557 pageviews2026-08-14 — 438 pageviews2026-08-17 — 443 pageviews2026-08-20 — 427 pageviews2026-08-23 — 458 pageviews2026-08-25 — 394 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

22702026-08-26 22:34 — 11 viewers2026-08-27 02:34 — 0 viewers2026-08-27 05:34 — 12 viewers2026-08-27 08:34 — 138 viewers2026-08-27 11:34 — 15 viewers2026-08-27 14:34 — 18 viewers2026-08-27 17:34 — 23 viewers2026-08-27 21:34 — 4 viewers2026-08-28 00:34 — 102 viewers2026-08-28 03:34 — 26 viewers2026-08-28 06:34 — 2 viewers2026-08-28 09:34 — 45 viewers2026-08-28 12:34 — 28 viewers2026-08-28 15:34 — 12 viewers2026-08-28 18:34 — 6 viewers2026-08-28 21:34 — 0 viewers2026-08-29 00:34 — 33 viewers2026-08-29 03:34 — 72 viewers2026-08-29 06:34 — 25 viewers2026-08-29 09:34 — 227 viewers2026-08-29 12:35 — 0 viewers2026-08-29 15:34 — 9 viewers2026-08-29 18:34 — 7 viewers2026-08-29 21:34 — 0 viewers2026-08-30 00:34 — 11 viewers2026-08-30 03:34 — 8 viewers2026-08-30 06:34 — 2 viewers2026-08-30 09:34 — 13 viewers2026-08-30 12:34 — 8 viewers2026-08-30 15:34 — 19 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

41
achievements tracked
72.4%
earned "Fashion Killa"
19.3%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPCross-Platform MultiplayerSteam AchievementsChat Speech-to-textAdjustable DifficultyKeyboard Only OptionPlayable without Timed InputStereo Sound19 DLC

11 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Simplified Chinese

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

ActionArcadeCasualRacingSportsDrivingControllerOpen WorldSimulationAtmospheric

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗