In a conference call yesterday, EA Games label president Frank Gibeau let on the that revitalized Need for Speed franchise is not going to be slowing down anytime soon, with a new title having been “under development now for some time at our award-winning Criterion Studio.”

The game, which is due out some time next year, will apparently up the quality of the franchise, as Gibeau admitted that past entries have been questionable in that department due to a lack of “adequate resources behind the franchise.”

Coming from the studio behind Burnout, it’s not a far leap to assume that this next entry in the franchise will be crash-centric, or will at least introduce the concept in a better way than “bounce off of walls and keep going,” but only time will tell at this point.

[via Joystiq]