Need for Speed: Most Wanted (commonly abbreviated to as NFS: MW) is a racing video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It is the ninth installment in the Need for Speed series. The game features street racing-oriented game play, with certain customization options from the Need for Speed: Underground series. The game is succeeded by Need for Speed: Carbon, which serves as a sequel to Most Wanted.

Most Wanted has been released for Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and is the first Need for Speed game released for the 7th generation console, the Microsoft Xbox 360 as well as one of its launch titles. Also, this was released for mobile phones. Another version of Most Wanted, titled Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5–1–0 has been released for the PlayStation Portable. In May 2012, the PlayStation 2 version was released on the online virtual market, PlayStation Store, for the PlayStation 3. On June 1, 2012, a reboot of the game, also called Need for Speed: Most Wanted, was announced with British developer Criterion Games developing the game.