"The main thrust of the sales has actually come in the last six years, where we've averaged over 12 million units per year," said Need for Speed VP of marketing Keith Munro to Gamasutra. Munro posits that the series' recent trend of featuring more accessible cars is a key reason for its recent success. "Our consumers might actually own these cars, or parents might have one in the garage," he said.

"The older Need For Speed games were more of the exotic supercars on the Italian countryside," he said, pointing to 2003's Need for Speed: Underground as a turning point for the series.