Need for Speed Payback is a racing video game developed by Ghost Games and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is the twenty-third installment in the Need for Speed series. The game was revealed with a trailer released on June 2, 2017. It was released worldwide on November 10, 2017. Need for Speed Payback is a racing game set in an open world environment of Fortune Valley. 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. In contrast with the previous game, it also features a 24-hour day-night cycle. Unlike the 2015 Need for Speed reboot, Payback includes an offline single-player mode. Need for Speed: Payback features a total of 74 cars, with all 2015 reboot manufacturers, except Toyota (including the Scion brand) and Ferrari, returning; the aforementioned two manufacturers do not feature in the game due to licensing issues. Aston Martin, Audi, Buick, Jaguar,

Koenigsegg, Land Rover, Mercury, Mini, Pagani, and Plymouth make a reappearance after their absence from the 2015 installment. Tyler Morgan, Sean McAlister, and Jessica Miller are part of a crew in Silver Rock, Fortune Valley along with their friend and mechanic "Rav" Ravindra Chaudhry. After a friendly race between them, Tyler's childhood acquaintance and fixer Lina Navarro arrives, with a job for them: steal a precious Koenigsegg Regera belonging to Marcus "The Gambler" Weir with some high level tech inside. Tyler, posing as a test driver, successfully steals the car and evades the police. However, as he 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. Tyler leads the cops away from his crew and runs into The Gambler, who demands his car back. On learning that Lina betrayed both of them, Weir is angry and decides to leave Tyler to be

arrested, but changes his mind and asks him to come with him so that he can be protected from being arrested. Six months later, Tyler is working as a valet for Weir. As he delivers his car to his casino, Tyler spots Lina threatening Weir to hand over the casino to The House, a cartel who controls Fortune Valley's underworld. Tyler considers going after her, but Weir advises him to bide his time. Frustrated at the lack of progress, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Contacting The House as a racer, he enters the race and wins it, despite Lina having rigged the race for profit. Lina tries to have him taken out, but fails. Weir calls Tyler and asks him to meet him at his casino, where he proposes a way to take down The House and Lina along with it. Tyler is to enter and win "The Outlaw's Rush", a massive street racing event that has the nation's top racers participating, which The House plans to rig for their own ends. Tyler refuses at first, but when his house is blown up by Lina as a warning, he

decides to accept Weir's offer and get his crew back together.