The first time I played Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Black Box Studio was already gone. Disbanded. I wanted to give them my money, but there was no one left to take it.

That hit me hard — missing the chance to pay for a childhood favorite.

See, back in the day in China, most of us played this game as a cracked copy. No other way. No official retail. No Steam. No way to pay even if you wanted to. We were kids with dial-up internet and a dream — and a pirated ISO from a local PC café.

So years later, I thought: maybe a physical PS2 import copy would help. A kind of spiritual closure.

Luckily, I didn’t get scammed. Found an old-school seller who knew his stuff. Got it at a fair price. We talked a bit about why I was buying it — he was genuinely happy for me.

Also grabbed a few titles on Steam during sales. Two bucks each on average. Felt good.

I have mixed feelings about this franchise. Part of me still hopes it can rise again. Make something world-changing. Like it once did.