http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/06/need-for-speed-placed-under-ea-sports-umbrella

Need for Speed and EA’s other driving titles will now be overseen by EA Sports group GM Matt Bilbey, who currently supervises several EA Sports titles, as part of a wider plan for less compartmentalisation and more unification of the company’s products.

New EA Sports boss Patrick Soderlund explained the change to Polygon, saying EA’s driving games would now continue under Bilbey.

“Matt will run FIFA, he runs UFC, but he also runs NHL (or has people that report up to him),” said Soderlund said. “We’re also putting Need for Speed and our driving business under Matt. We think that could benefit from fresh eyes, could benefit from some different thinking, and we think that Matt is the right guy to do that.”

“I think that we can learn a lot from the sports games and what they’ve done.”

Soderlund believes the EA sports library's focus on “pure gameplay” is something that NFS could benefit from “in a very positive way.”

Soderlund was shifted to helm EA Sports after the role was vacated by Andrew Wilson, the former head of EA Sports who recently assumed responsibility as EA’s CEO.

It was recently announced Need for Speed: Rivals release date had been moved forward to launch with the PlayStation 4 in the US, on November 15.