For the 2005 game, click here.
- Cash-Cow Franchise: While EA did not reveal specific sales figures for this game, it had good sales, outselling the previous year's Need for Speed: The Run.
- Creator Killer: The NFS and Burnout fandoms' backlash over Most Wanted 2012, along with the Troubled Production and severe commercial failure of the Wii U port, arguably ruined Criterion Games, who haven't released a new game of their own since. They even lost their co-founders and had most of their staff moved to Ghost Games. It was only at E3 2014 did the company show a glimpse of what they were working on next, which was definitely not another Burnout game, but then it was later revealed that it was cancelled. Ultimately subverted, however, when Ghost Games' entries ended up disappointing throughout The Eighth Generation of Console Video Games and the Need for Speed license went back to Criterion in February 2020, with Ghost downsizing back to a support studio and reverting back to their original name EA Gothenburg.
- Development Gag: The Hughes International Airport, added as part of the "Terminal Velocity" DLC pack for the 2012 game, is possibly one to Burnout Paradise as an early concept of Paradise City
◊ originally included an airport where Big Surf Island ultimately ended up. Prior to Big Surf's reveal, it was speculated that this cut airport area would be offered as DLC. - Dummied Out: Beta files revealed that three cars—the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, and the Hummer H1 Alpha—were meant to be in the game, complete with completed models, stats, and even car change videos for the Jeep and Hummer makes, but were culled from the final release. Thanks to dedicated fans, they can be modded back in, though using any of them can cause game crashes. The game's mobile version features these three said cars available in the lineup.
- Screwed by the Network:
- Most Wanted U according to former Criterion vice president Alex Ward. While Ward wasn't too happy with EA's treatment of the project, he ultimately placed the blame for the port's Troubled Production and commercial failure firmly in Nintendo's hands, subsequently vowing that his new company Three Fields Entertainment would never publish anything on a Nintendo platform. (Some years later, he cooled down and was developing Wreckreation for the Nintendo Switch, although that version was quietly cancelled later on likely due to the limitations of that platform.)
- Game files and an old alpha build video have recently surfaced that show the game was at first going to be more story-driven with a plot directly related to the 2005 game. The files show mechanics, cars, and even characters that weren't in the final build. The video shows that the handling model is very different and possibly allows realistic drifting mechanics in contrast to the "brake-to-drift" physics of the final game. The reason we never got this version was due to EA rushing Criterion to finish the game in time for release.
- Most Wanted U according to former Criterion vice president Alex Ward.
