NFS Heat Studio

The challenge

Companion apps traditionally ask players to wait passively through the months between reveal and launch. Need for Speed Heat was revealed at Gamescom just a few months before release, and the team set out to turn that window into an active daily habit built around car customization, a core fantasy of the franchise.

The approach

• Pitched NFS Heat Studio eleven months before launch: a standalone customization app players could use before the game even shipped, not a passive companion built after the fact.
• Launched alongside the Gamescom reveal, then released a new car pack every week across a 10-week pre-launch campaign, giving players a reason to return daily and making the app the red thread running through the entire marketing campaign.
• Partnered with creative studio The Mill and EA's engineering team to push the Frostbite engine beyond its limits, rendering nearly 200,000 personalized launch trailers, each built around a player's own customized car, ten days ahead of release.
• Opened the campaign to creators, with David Dobrik, French Montana, and A$AP Ferg each designing their own custom cars for launch moments.

Key features

Customization Studio

Full in-game part swapping and custom wrap creation, available to players months before the game itself launched.

Weekly Drops

A new car pack released every week across a 10-week pre-launch campaign, giving players a standing reason to come back daily.

AR & Social Sharing

Photo capture and AR tools let players view their customized car in the real world and share it directly to social.

Personalized Launch Trailers

Nearly 200,000 individually rendered trailers, each starring a player's own car as the hero vehicle, delivered ten days before launch.

Impact

Launch trailer, reimagined

Ten days before launch, nearly 200,000 players got a version of this trailer built around their own car.

NFS Heat Official Launch Trailer

One of the Personalized Launch Trailers