Need for Speed: The Run is a racing video game, the eighteenth title in the long-running Need for Speed franchise, and developed by Canadian EA subsidiary EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. The game was directed by action director Michael Bay and was described as an "illicit, high-stakes race across the country. The only way to get your life back is to be the first from San Francisco to New York. No speed limits. No rules. No allies. All you have are your driving skills and sheer determination".