The Inside Story of How Speedhunters Died
Speedhunters, as we know it, is done for. The car photography site that shaped a generation’s automotive imagination went out with a whimper, not a bang, when publishing quietly froze in April. After I reported the news last week, past contributors flooded my inbox with notes as they sought to share their side of the story. Now that I’ve sat down with them for hours, talking over the phone and email while reaching out to other key figures in the Speedhunters saga, I’m publishing all my findings here.
One thing I want to make clear straight away is that this isn’t the comprehensive follow-up I hoped to write. Several high-ranking staffers failed to respond to my request for comment, and Electronic Arts—Speedhunters’ parent company—didn’t have anything to say, either. Still, I gained a ton of insight from five contributors who were willing to speak with me, four of whom asked to remain anonymous, citing professional and legal concerns. What’s important is they worked at the site during its heyday and managed to stick around until the bitter, uneventful end.
Speedhunters was founded by Rod Chong in 2008 with backing from EA, the video game company that still owns the site now. It was created to connect EA with automotive culture, helping inform the content choices for its Need for Speed titles. In short, Speedhunters tied the games to the real world while building credibility among actual car people.
