Before Hello Games founder Sean Murray launched his own independent studio, the programmer behind No Man's Sky worked on the Burnout franchise at Criterion. During his time at the studio, there was talk of rebooting Road Rash in the spirit of the popular car-crashing series, but much to Murray's dismay, it never came to fruition.

"It never happened," Murray said on the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered, which airs this Friday. "I think there was a studio that was working on it that was using the Burnout engine. And there was this discussion of a Burnout/Road Rash reboot kind of thing that married the two, which I think would have been awesome."

Murray went on to note that Electronic Arts' motorcycle-racing series holds a special place in his heart, and given the chance at the time, he would have jumped at the opportunity to make such a game. "Road Rash was one of my favorite games," he said. "It an awesome game. It’s just got a great arcade-y feel. I would have loved to have worked on a Road Rash game."

While a Burnout/Road Rash crossover may never become a reality, the co-founders of Criterion Games announced last year they're working on a spiritual successor to Burnout at their new studio Three Fields Entertainment.

For more on Murray's history at Criterion games, his decision to go indie and the fascinating stories that surround creation of No Man's Sky, stay tuned for our full interview with the Hello Games founder when the next episode of IGN Unfiltered goes live on Friday.

Alex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.