The next Need for Speed game will not be released until the latter part of 2022 — at the earliest. That douses any hopes that the game would still come out in its original 2021 schedule. But that’s not happening anymore, and the reason is the new Battlefield video game. According to reports, Electronic Arts has directed Criterion Games to pause the development of the new Need for Speed game so that it could help fellow E.A. subsidiary DICE in finishing the new Battlefield title.

Electronic Arts chief studios officer Laura Miele spoke with Polygon about the status of the new Need for Speed game. The decision to halt the development of the Need for Speed was made to help support E.A. DICE on developing the new Battlefield game ahead of its debut on the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X this fall.

But instead of postponing its release, the company brought in reinforcements from the Criterion Games studio to act as a support group in the development of the game. The goal is to complete the game in time for its scheduled release.

Delaying the new Need for Speed game would’ve opened a big void with no racing titles coming out this year from Electronic Arts. Fortunately, E.A.’s recent acquisition of Codemasters solves that problem. The latter is releasing F1 2021 this year. It’s not an obvious alternative to Need for Speed, but it does fill the scheduling void left behind by E.A.’s decision to halt the development of the new NFS title.

The good news is that with all these delays, 2022 is shaping up to be an all-timer of a year for car video games. In addition to the new Need for Speed game, a host of other highly anticipated titles are scheduled to arrive next year. That list includes Gran Turismo 7 and Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown. If Rockstar Games can also get its act together, Grand Theft Auto 6 could also be released in 2022.