New Sonic Racing Game Confirmed for 2025

Summary

• Sega announced a new Sonic Racing game, “Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds,” starring Shadow in a cinematic teaser.
• The game will feature racing through portals and may combine elements of Sonic Racing and Sonic Riders gameplay.
• There is speculation of the game featuring car racing as well as hoverboard racing, keeping fans eagerly awaiting more details from Sega.

Sega surprised a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog fans at The Game Awards 2024, with a brand-new racing title confirmed to be released in 2025. The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has been on fire for the last couple of years, between the success of the live-action movies by Paramount and a string of successful releases like Sonic Frontiers and Sonic X Shadow Generations. 2024, in particular, has been an incredible year for Shadow the Hedgehog, as he gets to be the star of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, as well as his own story campaign in Shadow Generations.

Sega has even dubbed 2024 as “the year of Shadow,” due to the increased focus the character received in the aforementioned products. DLC based on the Sonic 3 movie was recently added to Sonic X Shadow Generations, complete with a new model and Keanu Reeves reprising his role as Shadow from the film. While the Game Awards 2024 didn’t feature much of the Sonic franchise, it did get a small showing in the form of a new trailer for a new game, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, which features the iconic anti-hero hedgehog himself as well.

In this brief Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds cinematic teaser trailer, Shadow can be seen opening a garage, followed by him starting up a black and red car. Getting behind the wheel, he then takes off burning rubber, entering a rainbow-colored portal that has been opened by a ring. A release date for this Sonic racing spin-off hasn’t been revealed other than the vague window of “Coming Soon,” but it will be released on all current gaming platforms, including PC, Switch, and both generations of PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Per Geoff Keighley at The Game Awards, the game will be released sometime in 2025.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds – Cinematic Teaser Trailer

Considering its focus on speed, the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is no stranger to racing games. The most recent home console racing spin-off in the series would be 2019’s Team Sonic Racing, a more traditional kart racer in the vein of Mario Kart with an emphasis on teamwork. While it’s a unique kart racer, it is a highly contentious entry in the franchise, and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds seems to be another return to the kart racing formula, following in the footsteps of its mobile cousin. While not much has been revealed in this cinematic teaser trailer, as it features no gameplay, it appears that the focus will be on visiting multiple worlds through these rings.

While Shadow’s Dark Reaper car is put in sharp focus in this trailer, some eagle-eyed fans spotted the shape of a board being hung up in the background, similar to the Extreme Gear from the Sonic Riders subseries. As such, some fans are theorizing that this game will feature a hybrid of Sonic Racing and Sonic Riders‘ gameplay styles, being given the chance to ride a car or hoverboard during a race. Fans will need to wait until Sega provides more information about Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.