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WorldUnited is a community server hosting Need for Speed: World through Soapbox Race World (SBRW); a custom server launcher.

Need for Speed: World was an massive multiplayer online racing game developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts, which was only available online from June 3, 2011 to July 14, 2015.

Being both parts a restoration project with content from Need for Speed: World and a modified community project, WorldUnited preserves the content originally offered during the period Need for Speed: World was online and mixes it with additional content crafted by members of their community.[1]

The server launched on January 1, 2020, following a merging of two other servers offered through Soapbox Race World; Apex and World Online PL (WOPL).[2][3]

Funding[]

The project is funded by donations to cover the cost of hosting the server which allows players to play in the server for free and for the removal of various "pay-to-win" elements associated with the original MMO's design.

Profiting from this has never been our goal, and it will never be. Players [are given the choice to] donate to us, but the money goes to hosting the server. No one is getting paid directly from this. EA hasn't taken any action and that must mean something.
— FBI Janitor

Legality[]

As with all servers offered through Soapbox Race World, WorldUnited has no affiliation with Electronic Arts or the Need for Speed brand, and is a completely fan developed project intended for preservation as well as community engagement. Even though there have been attempts at communicating with Electronic Arts, it has not been recognised in any official capacity, and has left the project in a legal grey realm of legality.[4]

It's a real shame. There's so much cool stuff we could do, and so many things we could fix and future-proof if we had access to the original code. My view is that if you—in this case EA—aren't actively maintaining it, you should at least help others do it. Preservation is important, especially nowadays with all of these online-only games.
— heyitsleo

References[]

  1. Website: worldunited.gg (2020) A new era of Need for Speed: World Available at: https://worldunited.gg/
  2. Website: b-sbrw.davidcarbon.download (2019) Apex and WOPL Merging to Together as WorldUnited.GG Available at: https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/how-players-resurrected-the-need-for-speed-mmo-you-didnt-even-know-existed/
  3. Website: nfswonline.pl (2019) Time to say goodbye Available at: https://nfswonline.pl/index-en.html
  4. Article: pcgamer.com (2020) How players resurrected the Need for Speed MMO you didn't even know existed Available at: https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/how-players-resurrected-the-need-for-speed-mmo-you-didnt-even-know-existed/
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