July 2018
Ok guys, I think I FINALLY solved the problem. After EXTENSIVE hours, days weeks, etc, to trying to find the issue with this game crashing at startup, I believe the issue is with the virtual reality driver. You see, I own a HTC Vive virtual reality headset and when I disconnected the "power cable" from the link box and started the game, VOILA.... it started with no issues and I was able to play the game fine. So then I quit the game, re-inserted the power cable to the link box, started the game, and no go, it would crash to the desktop....I then took out the power cable again and started the game with NO issues....I was able to play several levels with no problem. So, if you guys have any virtual reality system hooked up to your PC, it's worth giving it a try...it worked for me and I hope it works for you....I NEVER thought that this would be the problem!!!!
December 2018
January 2019
Ok, so after MORE investigating into the issue I found it to be the camera driver for the virtual reality system. If you go into device manager and disable it, then the game works just fine...no need to disconnect any power sources to the VR headset.
February 2020
February 2020
September 2021
Went through the trouble of logging in to EA just to say thank you! I never would have guessed that and it was driving me crazy, especially since there are so many other posts about completely unrelated launch issues. Your three year old post just saved me a lot of headache, THANK YOU!
June 2022
I figured out the fix (At least for me)
I will share.
I was getting the error need to install game...blah..
Anyway in the game folder \Program Files\Ea Games\Need for Speed Hot Pursuit\_installer\DirectX
Basically installing DirectX allowed the game to start.
Hope this helps.