Mario Kart World‘s Sega-backed competitor, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, has hit spectacular milestones shortly after its launch, intensifying the rivalry between the 2 kart racing sims. Whereas gamers and critics have lengthy in contrast the franchises, their 2025 conflict is especially fascinating resulting from Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds‘ new advertising method.
In June 2025, Sonic Group head Takashi Iizuka threw shade at Mario Kart World by mocking its Nintendo Swap exclusivity. Iizuka claimed that, not like “one other kart racing recreation,” Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds would assist cross-platform play. This was only the start of direct jabs at Nintendo’s beloved IP, as Sonic Group later launched a commercial mocking Mario Kart World‘s free-roam mode.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Has ‘Overwhelmingly Constructive’ Opinions
Amid the rivalry between the 2 Japanese kart racing games, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds launched on September 25 to a constructive reception, with critiques on all platforms exhibiting robust assist from gamers. Developer Sonic Group’s new recreation has additionally develop into one among Steam’s bestsellers, suggesting potential monetary success for Sega. As of this writing, the sport has peaked at over 13,000 concurrent gamers on Steam alone (through SteamDB) and holds a median consumer rating of “Overwhelmingly Constructive.” Critics have praised the sport as nicely, giving it a median rating of 83 out of 100 on the evaluation aggregator OpenCritic.
Though Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds‘ early stats recommend a powerful begin, it stays a smaller franchise in comparison with Mario Kart. Nintendo’s newest installment has bought round six million copies since hitting the market as a Nintendo Switch 2 launch title, and that is on a single platform. Whereas official gross sales knowledge for Sega’s CrossWorlds is not accessible but, it appears unlikely to achieve the identical participant depend as Mario Kart World.
For the report, Mario Kart is without doubt one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time, with lots of of hundreds of thousands of copies bought since its launch. Mario Kart 8 and its Deluxe version alone have bought over 70 million copies. By comparability, unconfirmed data means that Group Sonic Racing has bought round 4 million copies.
Regardless of the simple competitors between Sega and Nintendo, many gamers who’ve tried both Mario Kart World and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds agree that every recreation has its personal strengths. For Nintendo’s kart racing recreation, the attraction lies within the pleasure of exploration. For Sega’s Sonic-inspired title, the draw is the fun of high-speed, adrenaline-fueled races. In the long run, the true winners appear to be the gamers, who now have two acclaimed racing video games to get pleasure from.
- Launched
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September 25, 2025
- ESRB
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Everybody / Delicate Fantasy Violence
