The Game Census
Shift 2 Unleashed cover art

Shift 2 Unleashed

Slightly Mad Studios · Electronic Arts · 2011-03-29

SteamXboxMicrosoft Store

Racing

Franchise: Need for Speed · Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Split screen · Perspectives: Third person

Releases: Apr 01, 2011 (PlayStation 3), Mar 29, 2011 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Mar 31, 2011 (Xbox 360)

Bring the true driver’s experience to life with all the intensity and exhilaration of being behind the wheel!

Shift 2 Unleashed is a Racing game released in 2011, with an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 owners and a Mixed review sentiment (68% of 2578 reviews).

2
playing now
68%
positive of 2.6k reviews
Mixed
steam's rating (official)
100,000–200,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
81/100
critic score (6 outlets, IGDB)
76/100
IGDB user rating (98 ratings)
2
Nexus mods (737 downloads)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Unsupported
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Unsupported

2 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 14:00 UTC (census sample)

Shift 2: Unleashed is a 2011 racing video game, the seventeenth installment of the Need for Speed series. It was developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published by Electronic Arts. The game serves as a direct sequel to Need for Speed: Shift and expands on many aspects that were introduced in the original. Shift 2: Unleashed was released worldwide during March and April 2011.

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 2 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 35 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~4/week).
  • · Review velocity up 40% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 7% of 2,381 Racing games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-30

Estimated sales: 103k–206k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 2,578 total reviews — how this is computed.

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
494920182026Week of 2018-01-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

902026-09-15 15:00 — 5 players2026-09-17 00:00 — 1 players2026-09-18 07:00 — 1 players2026-09-19 15:00 — 9 players2026-09-20 22:00 — 2 players2026-09-22 06:00 — 3 players2026-09-23 13:00 — 6 players2026-09-24 21:00 — 1 players2026-09-26 04:00 — 2 players2026-09-27 12:00 — 4 players2026-09-28 19:00 — 4 players2026-09-30 03:00 — 4 players2026-10-01 10:00 — 2 players2026-10-02 18:00 — 5 players2026-10-04 02:00 — 4 players2026-10-05 10:00 — 2 players2026-10-06 17:00 — 5 players2026-10-08 01:00 — 5 players2026-10-09 08:00 — 8 players2026-10-10 16:00 — 6 players2026-10-11 23:00 — 3 players2026-10-13 07:00 — 4 players2026-10-14 14:00 — 2 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
833Jul 2012Aug 2026Jul 2012 — avg 49 · peak 123Dec 2012 — avg 27 · peak 86May 2013 — avg 74 · peak 400Oct 2013 — avg 22 · peak 54Mar 2014 — avg 83 · peak 289Aug 2014 — avg 52 · peak 102Jan 2015 — avg 44 · peak 111Jun 2015 — avg 33 · peak 81Nov 2015 — avg 26 · peak 86Apr 2016 — avg 19 · peak 47Sep 2016 — avg 22 · peak 52Feb 2017 — avg 23 · peak 53Jul 2017 — avg 29 · peak 83Dec 2017 — avg 27 · peak 76May 2018 — avg 18 · peak 38Oct 2018 — avg 16 · peak 40Mar 2019 — avg 16 · peak 41Aug 2019 — avg 16 · peak 40Jan 2020 — avg 20 · peak 50Jun 2020 — avg 35 · peak 77Nov 2020 — avg 19 · peak 46Apr 2021 — avg 13 · peak 38Sep 2021 — avg 9 · peak 25Feb 2022 — avg 8 · peak 23Jul 2022 — avg 6 · peak 18Dec 2022 — avg 7 · peak 19May 2023 — avg 6 · peak 16Oct 2023 — avg 6 · peak 18Mar 2024 — avg 6 · peak 21Aug 2024 — avg 6 · peak 18Jan 2025 — avg 5 · peak 15Jun 2025 — avg 6 · peak 17Nov 2025 — avg 5 · peak 14Apr 2026 — avg 4 · peak 14Aug 2026 — avg 3 · peak 10
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$19.99$4.392015-01-012021-06-012015-01-01 — best price $7.992015-01-06 — best price $19.992015-03-14 — best price $19.992015-04-09 — best price $19.992015-06-12 — best price $9.992015-06-17 — best price $9.992015-08-04 — best price $9.992015-09-08 — best price $9.992015-11-24 — best price $9.992015-12-01 — best price $19.992016-01-04 — best price $19.992016-02-12 — best price $19.992016-07-04 — best price $19.992016-08-22 — best price $19.992016-11-29 — best price $19.992017-01-02 — best price $19.992017-07-05 — best price $19.992017-11-01 — best price $19.992017-11-28 — best price $19.992018-01-04 — best price $19.992018-02-19 — best price $19.992018-07-05 — best price $19.992018-11-27 — best price $19.992019-01-03 — best price $19.992019-02-12 — best price $19.992019-07-09 — best price $19.992019-11-26 — best price $4.992019-12-19 — best price $4.992020-01-23 — best price $4.992020-06-04 — best price $4.992020-08-20 — best price $4.992020-10-13 — best price $4.992020-11-03 — best price $19.992020-11-25 — best price $4.992020-12-22 — best price $4.992021-01-11 — best price $6.992021-02-11 — best price $6.992021-06-01 — best price $6.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

131662026-06-01 — 110 pageviews2026-06-05 — 118 pageviews2026-06-09 — 100 pageviews2026-06-13 — 86 pageviews2026-06-17 — 77 pageviews2026-06-21 — 102 pageviews2026-06-25 — 88 pageviews2026-06-29 — 82 pageviews2026-07-03 — 81 pageviews2026-07-07 — 87 pageviews2026-07-11 — 80 pageviews2026-07-15 — 96 pageviews2026-07-19 — 118 pageviews2026-07-23 — 86 pageviews2026-07-27 — 97 pageviews2026-07-31 — 109 pageviews2026-08-04 — 128 pageviews2026-08-08 — 100 pageviews2026-08-12 — 106 pageviews2026-08-16 — 131 pageviews2026-08-20 — 84 pageviews2026-08-24 — 104 pageviews2026-08-28 — 88 pageviews2026-09-01 — 98 pageviews2026-09-05 — 102 pageviews2026-09-09 — 77 pageviews2026-09-13 — 93 pageviews2026-09-17 — 101 pageviews2026-09-21 — 91 pageviews2026-09-25 — 83 pageviews2026-09-29 — 79 pageviews2026-10-03 — 81 pageviews2026-10-07 — 78 pageviews2026-10-10 — 79 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsSingle-playerMulti-playerPartial Controller SupportFamily Sharing

7 supported languages: English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish - Spain

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
PS3 (PlayStation)35,1833%49
Xbox 360 (Xbox)19,4151%48

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

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

Player tags

RacingDrivingRealisticSimulationMultiplayerFirst-PersonSingleplayerAutomobile Sim

Census log

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

Players also track

GET EVENThis Is the PoliceUse Your WordsNeed for Speed™Need for Speed™ Most WantedForza Motorsport

Similarity via IGDB.

Wikipedia ↗Official site ↗