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Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012 video game)

2012 video game by Criterion Games

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ1880781 ↗
Source-derived summary

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a 2012 racing game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts. Most Wanted is the nineteenth title in the Need for Speed series and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, iOS and Android, beginning in North America in 2012. A Wii U version, under the title Need for Speed: Most Wanted U, was released in 2013. Like its predecessor, 2010's Hot Pursuit, the game is a revival of the original 2005 Most Wanted title.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted received positive reviews, which focused on the world map that blended the styles of previous Burnout and Need for Speed games, and the social features, while criticism fell on the single-player mode. The game has won several awards, including the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards for Best Driving Game and Racing Game of the Year at the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards; it was also nominated for Best British Game and Best Online Multiplayer at the 2013 BAFTA Awards. Need for Speed: Most Wanted has also been recognized as the best driving/racing game of 2012 by several outlets.

Most Wanted would be the last game in franchise to have Criterion as the lead studio until 2022's Need for Speed Unbound.

Gameplay

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is set in an open world environment. The game takes on the gameplay style of the first Most Wanted title in the Need for Speed franchise; the contrast difference is the 2012 Most Wanted does not contain a story.

Editorial summary

“Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012 video game)” enters the record as 2012 video game by Criterion Games. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Need, Speed and Most can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2012, 2013, 2010, 2005—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—2012-10-30, 2012—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Need, Speed and Most.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012 video game)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Need, Speed and Most provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1880781. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012, 2013, 2010 and 2005.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012 video game)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012 video game) primary sources, Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012 video game) archive and Need research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012 video game)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.