In February, Criterion Games took over the reins of Need for Speed: Heat developer Ghost Games. The Burnout Paradise studio has been working on Heat ever since, and is nearly ready to release the final update before moving on to new work.

The final update, which will be available for download on June 9, is mostly fixes, but there is one important new feature. This is an opt-in system that will allow players to race on the same servers as PC, Xbox One, and PS4 players. Friends playing on other platforms can be invited to run the tarmac with you if they have cross-play enabled.

With that out of the way, Criterion will now turn its full attention to the next "Need for Speed," but no details beyond some bragging about what it's doing to breathe life into the floundering racer have yet been revealed.

"Since the launch of Need for Speed Heat, and as players continue to tear it up in Palm City, we've been listening to what you love about the experience and what we believe we can do even better," Criterion General Manager Matt Webster said, "These insights have given us a great foundation to create the most expressive, most socially connected, action-packed game ever for Need for Speed fans and beyond."

Meanwhile, Need for Speed: Heat has been added to the EA Access and Origin Access Basic Vault and appeared on Steam last week along with 12 other EA games.