Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is getting its suite of crossover characters partly to ensure that players don't think of it as a one-and-done title.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ at Summer Game Fest, veteran Sonic series producer Takashi Iizuka explains that the Minecraft and Yakuza crossovers that appeared in the game's most recent trailer (alongside Hatsune Miku and Persona 5's Joker) are there partly to provide a 'Hall of Fame' feel; "we wanted to make this title something that pulled from the best of our previous racing games."
CrossWorlds, he says, borrows from All-Star Racing's broad selection of Sega characters, "so it's not just a Sonic universe game." But more than just providing a wide roster for the sake of it, Iizuka says that they've also been included "to make sure people are playing this game for a long time – not just playing it when it comes out, having fun, and that being it."
"Really, we need to support [it] and make sure people are having fun and getting a fresh experience for as long as possible." To help with that, he drops a reminder about the Season Pass, which will help provide new content "for one year after the game launches," adding new things to the game "continually."
Minecraft will be the first of those big drops, but Iizuka says that "as the year progresses, we'll have new characters coming into the race, new courses that the team is developing that will make it into the game, to make sure we have that long-time experience, and a lot of fun for players that want to continue playing."
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the devs want their game to be played for as long as possible, but it's the kind of thing that isn't often said as loudly as this. New characters and courses – even those being added through a paid pass – are a pretty innocent way of expanding on a racing game, and unless you can shift a Mario Kart-esque number of copies, they're probably a good way of making sure that players do stick around for the longer haul.
Whether Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds can do that with Mario Kart World lurking in the background remains to be seen, but given Iizuka's recent comments about Nintendo's new racer, he does seem to be feeling pretty confident.
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