A rumor was circulated that the game was based on ideas left behind from another game, Twisted Metal: Apocalypse, which was cancelled after the tragic death of 6 members of the the creative team, who passed away in an airplane crash.

This story was perpetuated by Lead developer David Jaffe during an interview to promote a future Twisted Metal release. In it he states "there were a number of people who were working on the team -- and I wasn't working with the team -- that were killed. They died in a plane crash in Utah on a ski trip." However, he later rescinds that comment in a back and forth with a reporter from 1up.com. During that, Jaffe says, "We never used- and I never would- a tragedy (real or fake) to promote ANYTHING. The story of the developers dying in the plane crash (totally fake) was never used to promote that game."