As wonderful as Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was and Most Wanted will be, we all know that we’d love to see Criterion return to the Burnout franchise that really stole the show when it came to arcade racers. And it turns out they might just.

Of course, there’s always a caveat; although in this case it’s a rather welcome one. To see a Burnout game we’ll have to wait for the possibility of Criterion developing a new Road Rash game first. Something that should be welcomed with open arms by gamers everywhere.

“We will make another Burnout game at some point,” said Need For Speed: Most Wanted creative director Craig Sullivan in an interview to the Guardian. “Obviously, as we’re working on Need For Speed we’re thinking of really good ideas that aren’t right for this series; there are ideas that we’re going to explore with Burnout. And we wouldn’t be making Need For Speed or Burnout games if we didn’t think the driving genre had a long shelf life and that we could push the boundaries.”

Criterion are definitely aiming to push the boundaries of racing game design too with Most Wanted stripping away many of the grinding restrictions found in other games. However it was the mention of Road Rash that piqued interest in the future of Criterion.

“I had a lot of fun playing [Road Rash],” muses Sullivan. “We think bikes are fun. We might make a Road Rash game. But then we might make a game without vehicles in it. I mean, we made Black, I was the lead designer – we might make a game about blowing the crap out of each other! But Road Rash seems like a good fit for Criterion…”

Bikes were added into Burnout Paradise as a piece of DLC, so at least we know that Criterion can deliver a game that’ll let you drive bikes without it feeling all really rather weird.