Ghost Games' Marcus Nilsson has told Polygon that the studios brought the release of Need for Speed: Rivals forward after hearing news that Evolution Studio's DriveClub had been delayed.
Rivals was originally due to release on November 22nd as part of a staggered launch but is now available today thanks to the change in release date.
"It's in response to being there and we saw possibility, obviously. The game feels good. We set the manufacturing dates in getting it done, and we saw that we could get it done in time [for launch.] And then we managed to do so."
The PS4 would not have launched with a racer had Ghosts Games maintained their original date.
Nilsson believes that Rivals is not in direct competition with games like DriveClub, Gran Turismo 6, and Forza Motorsport 5. Instead, be thinks they complement each other and show that there is "a real hunger for the genre."
"I think it's so great that there are other games coming. The more games we get into this genre of action racing, the better. Because then we're going to need to innovate. You've got [Ubisoft's] The Crew as well, and we're all going to be pushing innovation forward.
"We're certainly doing our part in that deal of trying to get a new experience onto the consoles for the next generation. It's just a new way of playing and I think that's what you really need from games when we have a transition."
Explaining why he believes Rivals stands apart from the competition rather than competing directly he said:
"The positioning of this game is esoteric, it's an action game — it's not really competing with Forza and Gran Turismo.
"You can take on jumps, you can set Autolog records, you can go into a race with AI, or a mixed race with AI and cops, and it's all kind of presented in a way that makes it not overwhelming,"
Need for Speed: Rivals is out now for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The developers have praised the Frosbite 3 engine with which the game was developed saying achieving 1080p "is really huge for us."
