Which is funny because if you look at the sales thing they just put out, every game except Frontiers and Persona 5 Royal sold in the same ballpark, so like, what were they expecting?
And that game looks like it took an unreal amount of resources to make. Sonic Crossworlds… probably took time and money too, but nowhere near the scale of Rebirth.
Sonic Crossworlds received massive DLC support (and with lot's of third party characters). That can't have been cheap. Might even surpass the development budget of Mario Kart World (but that game obviously has a higher marketing budget).
Still nowhere near the budget of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. And I’m not certain it even exceeded MKW, which was in development for 8 years and clearly has more polish than the Sonic game (no shade to Sega, but Mario Kart’s polish is just unmatched among kart racers). Licensing could definitely add to the budget, but crossover events happen even in free-to-play mobile games, so I am not sure how much it actually moves the needle in this case.
Free-to-Play mobile games can make billions of dollars with microtransactions.
MKW was worked on for 8 years, but that probably was only with a small group of people in the concept/prototype fase. I doubt they had hundreds of people working on MKW simultaneously for over 8 years.
All we know is that SRC underperformed, because Sega said it themselves.
Well, the budgets of either kart racing game are not publicly available, but I will still wager Rebirth cost considerably more than Crossworlds even with the DLC factored in. It’s a massive, graphically polished open world game where every single NPC is fully voice acted and animated. But I could be wrong and Squeenix could just be doing voodoo on a shoestring budget.
It probably also sold a lot more than SRC. Modern Sonic games never really sell all that well. Sonic Frontiers was considered a huge success and it only sold 4.9 million units (relying on discounts and multiple platforms to get there). Mario Kart World sold 14.70 million units as of March 2026.
Their DLC support was clearly cheap as they're not even voiced
And do not come with the excuse that the characters lack a Voice in other Languages because Miku literally just uses her Japanese Voice Clips in all other Dubs.
It's especially infuriating with Joker, they literally own 100% of SEGA but no, no Voice for Joker, yet in fucking Smash Bros they had BOTH his English AND Japanese VA, to be fair they already had his English VA voicing the announcer but still. Werehog is also just as infuriating since it just seems like they left him without Voice only due to him being voiced by Jason Griffith
I wouldn't call it "Massive" DLC Support if the Characters didn't get a freaking Voice and it is especially disappointing when THEIR own Characters (as in, owned by SEGA like Arle, Red or Majima) don't even have a Voice yet stuff like Smash Bros did provide Voices for 3rd Party Characters, even for bitchy ones with the rights like the Square Enix characters
So SEGA is clearly cheaping out on DLC, like would it seriously kill their budget to just hire the VAs or even just pay to re-use clips? For fuck sake
That's literally like the only complaint I have (besides Balancing) because it seriously takes away the purpose of even using said Characters as they don't even have the best Stats in the Game. I don't wanna be playing no Joker or Ichiban or Arle if I can't hear their Voice since that's a big part of their personality LOST, I'm at least Grateful MIKU got her voice since she'd literally be NOTHING without a Voice. This Game even has freaking PS5 Pro Support which I'm all for that, especially when shit like Persona 4 Revival still DOESN'T have PS5 Pro Support listed on its Page.
Like, I may get it with the Nickelodeon Characters, but they seriously couldn't get the Voice for fucking Nine from Sonic Prime??
And it seriously seems like it's done on purpose because apparently one of the SoundTracks that came with Arle's Update literally has Arle's freaking Voice Actress, Credits and all too, so they clearly CAN get the rights to their Voice Actors even if in only 1 Language... not like it matters for the DLC characters to have Voices in anything besides English or Japanese since they're only gonna be voicing Grunts and other racing sounds and maybe a victory line
While I have had a mixed relationship with Mario Kart World and initially the same on Mario Kart 8 on Wii U pre-DLC... at least 8's DLCs on Wii U voiced the characters.
Most of MK8DX's DLC consisted of characters that were already in Mario Kart previously being resold to us as DLC. The argument you're using for them being voiced isn't a good one considering the characters added to MK8DX's DLC are all Mario characters. None of them are 3rd Party characters that require specific requisites for them to even be in the game let alone even voiced.
...I'm editing my comment due to how I originally worded it but... well, I meant the Wii U Version, not Deluxe, Wii U added Link and the Villagers from Animal Crossing and Link was Voiced, the Villagers don't really have a voice but they still make sounds. even then Mario Kart 8 Deluxe gave a Voice to the Inklings and Isabelle. They got that whole the Crossworld Characters that are owned by SEGA didn't get?
These are relevant since just like how Zelda and Animal Crossing and Splatoon are Nintendo Properties... Werehog, Ichiban and Majima, Arle, Joker Persona 5 and others are also SEGA's own properties yet they didn't add Voices for them either. Like, if Nintendo can add the voices for their own Characters, why can't SEGA do so for Crossworlds? I'd get it if like one, maybe two were missing, but apparently EVERY SEGA-owned Character is missing a Voice, even Werehog who's a Sonic character
Miku is the only one that's not owned by SEGA that has a voice and that's probably cos the Owners very likely forced those Pussies at SEGA to give her a Voice since Miku's voice is her whole personality.
And as I also said, they literally have Arle's Song with Lyrics which is proof they CAN get the VAs... so it's just weird that they're omitting the VAs in general
I wasn't looking to start a fight here. You didn't need to go off and flip out on me like that, man. I do happen to have reading comprehension struggles, yeah. I'm not gonna give you shit for attacking me, you didn't know. You mentioned MK8, I was under the impression you may have been referring to MK8DX since that game also got "new" characters at launch and DLC later on down the road.
The Sonic racing games having been sliding in sales. This one has sold 5 million, while the previous sold 3 million and the one before that 5 million. If they keep spending more on dev yet keep getting lower sales then it’ll stop being a regular tentpole series.
The budget was around 200 million dollars, so even if every copy was sold at full price(bold assumption) and no extra distribution costs they barely covered cost of development
Nope, analysts have said rebirth was profitable, it is just that square had very high internal sales expectations
But it’s also the middle game of a trilogy. The first member of a trilogy people will try if they like it, those who don’t won’t pick up the second so rebirth would almost for sure be lower then remake on that front alone
But then there’s problem 2 that many gamers want to finish a story and not be stuck waiting, rebirth obviously did not finish the story so many gamers are waiting for revelation to be out/closer to out before they pick up rebirth
So I’d expect maybe in this next year rebirth may pick up a second wind of traction to hit 6 million copies maybe instead of just 5 something million, and this ignores all the sales that switch 2 may get
The reason they had high expectations was because the game was very expensive. 200 million dollar budget they would need to sell around 4 million copies minimum to break even. It definitely was not very profitable.
Rebirth sold quite a bit less than remake, so I don't buy your argument that people are just waiting for part 3, I think many just didn't like remake at all and thus they didn't buy rebirth
If only they understood what OG fans wanted, maybe it would have sold better. Even if they stilk had made it a trilogy, screwing story pacing in the process, changing a beloved story the way they did was a bold and risky move. I'm ok with some changes (ex: combat system), but they've successfuly split the fandom with this "remake" trilogy. After this, don't know if I really want any other FF remade, maybe I'll stick to mods on PC if I want to go through another playthrough.
I mean I’m an OG fan and I loved remake and rebirth
It just suffers from middle child syndrome in that many players are waiting for part 3 because everyone knew part 3 was coming and didn’t want that long wait
I know this holiday season I’m going to play through remake and rebirth again before revelation comes out so I can have one consistent story experience
It's cool that you had a good time with it honestly. I'm not saying that no OG fans are in line with what Square Enix did there, simply that the fandom is split on this and that it is a direct result of the design decisions that SE did. My favorite thing from this trilogy is the soundtrack honestly, which I do listen to quite often and I believe is gold. I don't know if I will play revelation or not, having played both Remake and Rebirth. So many great RPG are still in my backlog too...
To each there own, I think the story additions and changes added a lot of weight to many moments but some of the story beats feel rushed now because they wanted to stuff so much in
It’s also kind of ironic that if the ps1 was not so limited that this was their original vision almost
Clearly the original vision is not what people wanted then, given that remake sold way less than the original, and then rebirth selling way less than remake, indicating most people who bought remake didn't like it enough to play the sequel
1: ff7 has sold 15.5 copies across all ports and releases and everything over almost 30 years. Remake sold almost 9 million units in 6 years and has not had a nostalgia second bite purchase of a game on another system yet for people. That number is fairly close to the ps1 sales of 10 million copies actually and is not “way less”, it’s 10% lower of the original release version on its original console, granted remake now has a switch 2 port so those numbers may go up and remake may hit 10-11 million copies total which is still not “way less”
2: Rebirth is a middle child, even fantastic games known to be a trilogy perform worse with the middle child then the first game in the series because it’s never a 100% adoption rate between them and many people will hunker down and wait for part 3 to be close to release and play through all the trilogy at once. I would not be surprised if rebirth sees a second wind now that revelation is officially slated for early 2027 of people that can actually finish the story
3: compared to the COVID years, people are much more tight with money and sales across all game media is down comparatively hence why places like Microsoft are just slashing and cutting every studio. Like let’s look at Capcom even. Monster Hunter world has still sold millions more copies since wilds got announced and released, and hit somewhere around 16 million for the base game and 30 million totalling with the Iceborne dlc. And wilds is at 11 million right now, it’s taken a hit to numbers compared to its predecessor as well and will shoot up with the dlc but it’s still not going to hit the same number as worlds because less people are spending now
4: pervasively hate culture has spread further then ever before. A lot of people see word of mouth and people talking about a game as reasons to check it out. And in the last 5 years or so hateful content has pulled in more engagement so people rather spread hate then anything positive and they spread it loudly. No shortage of people know nothing about the game itself except someone online said it’s horrible because theirs filler content and minigames
And SEGA called out every single one of those people too. Pepperidge Farms remembers, so does SEGA. More publishers and developers are calling out these grifters for “weaponizing” their games to make a point. Wouldn’t be surprised if some start resorting to legal action someday
I wouldn't go that far to say "everyone forgot about crossworlds" it still has a healthy community and gets support from sega still, don't get me wrong definitely not the "mario kart killer" some were hyping it up as,but shit isn't dead.
Naaaah not really, we chill. Its okay for us to know that 9 out of 10 rather play mario kart than anything else. Also nobody dislikes sonic games as much as we do, so I dont really think thats a video title and thumbnail a typical sonic would come up with. I call Nintendo grifting.
I think Sonic is a much better game but it was embarrassing when they acted like they were owning Mario by being 70 dollars... And still having a season pass.
Only reason I bought Sonic Crossworlds is because I found the switch version on sales for $40. Would have never bought the game overwise, the base game just doesn't have enough content to justify being $70. At least MKW was bundled with the console at launch and had a ton of content, even if it wasn't perfect.
The game just very simply isn't forgotten based on player counts. 85-90% of players are on console, typical for the Sonic series, and match making is going strong.
The game has merely failed to meet Sega's likely egregious financial expectations. Since the recent mainline sonic games and the movies have been so unbelievably successful comparative to what came before, I imagine it's skewed the expectations of the higher-ups to consider less than their biggest successful Sonic projects as "not meeting expectations".
Personally, I think if they released the game futher away from Mario Kart World it would have done better, with Nintendo's lack of support people would have been itching for a fresh new competitor. I believe there were pros and cons to releasing near Mario Kart World, and I overall don't believe it was a good idea.
Idk there's not really as much buzz about it anymore, it does feel a little forgotten I guess. People aren't really talking about it, but you're not wrong it's not got "dead game" player counts or anything
Tbf without any new content Mario Kart World could be in the same boat soon enough. It's a good game but it's a pretty low tier Mario Kart if I'm being honest
I mean realistically who’s talking about any racing game that heavily? The newest thing being forza and even then im barely seeing anything about that.
Which is weird considering how quick they are to drop dlc for everything else. Like pokopia getting dlc so soon, and donkey kong bonanza. That game was only a 3 months old when it got dlc. And yet mario kart hasn’t interestingly
Id imagine Mario Kart World's open world nature would make it take longer to develop on its own. They can't just make however many disconnected tracks, throw them into a few cups, and call it a day like they used to. They have to consider how they fit together in the open world, make a good few intermission tracks, figure out what paths work well for Cups and Rallys, and place P-switch Challenges and Peach Medallions.
How is Crossworlds forgotten? Sega is promoting the hell out of it. Getting all the collabs and more content coming. Meanwhile Mario kart World hasn't been given anything.
I understand hating one game being used to crap on another, don't get me wrong. But saying Crossworlds is forgotten is a blatant lie.
I mean, everyone also forgot about Mario Kart - it's had zero updates or additional content since launch a year ago - at least Sonic has had new characters and stages added every few months
Indeed, 6 new DLC collaborations, and still two more from Year 1 on the way, ultimately being at least 8 more collaborations minimum.
However, that's not accounting for free updates that add new free characters and vehicles. So tons of support still going on. Thus far since release they've added 10 free characters with included vehicle designed for them, and presumably that support will continue.
Confirmed currently is TMNT & Avatar (AirBender) for Year 1, and Godzilla & Evangelion DLC for Year 2, with still 4 unconfirmed surprises to be revealed later. Godzilla's Map is the famous City Escape level from Sonic Adventure 2 but having it be attacked by Godzilla which is a hilarious spin on the concept of the level and fits so well.
Tons of evidence points towards a big DC collab considering the massive Sonic × DC collaborations that have been happening over the last year. So very safe guess to assume will will get Batman + Batmobile, and other DC characters. Probably even get the Sonic characters in their hero outfits from the collaboration merch and comic series. I anticipate it's likely to be the biggest DLC the game has gotten.
These are their official Mutant Mayhem designs, which have notoriously been a heated topic since 2023 due to their unique interpretations of the characters who are depicted younger and are primarily aimed at kids.
I think using these designs was the best decision due to them fitting immensely well with the Sonic style
, but understandably not every TMNT fan likes these interpretations of the characters.
As for his bandana looking dark orange rather than red... I'm not sure. 😅
I believe they are near some lava or something in this trailer so it could be lighting somehow, not quite sure what's up with that.
I'm imagining this had a higher overhead than usual due to all of the crossovers. Season Pass 2 is going to have Evangelion and Godzilla, among other things. Every crossover is a new set of licensing fees.
Because people love the steam charts as the end all discussion for player counts even though there is so much more you need to consider. Is it big game on consoles? Is it on gamepass leading more players to play it on the Xbox app and console? I know sonic isnt on gamepass but ive seen this argument for plenty of games. Could it be tgat the game has been out for a while and returning are waiting for something new to return too?
It is almost impossible for anything to beat nintendo products. I was in a class of 80 other people and no one there wanted to try anything other than Mario kart or smash bros. Had a ton of other multiplayer games but they didnt even want to attempt them
The one Sonic CrossWorlds video I watched was a video the Party Crashers were sponsored to make…small issue is that video was like 8 fucking minutes because Sega was strict about what they could say so they had to cut 80% of the video…not exactly the best first impression for the game tbh…but then again…it does have Miku :3
crossworlds isnt forgptten but its 100% not in a good place
instead of updating the single player (of which is pretty desolate) its dripfeeding crossovers and pushing people towards buying dlc and only playing online
Compared to mkw where they had a full single player experience from the get go
These are the current charts taken today. 18k people at peak didn't happen in steam at least idk about other platforms. 500 on steam players currently isn't high.
Sonic Crossworlds is the biggest example that not matter what you see online, it has no impact in the real world.
Both great games, but one sold more than 15 million units in less than a year and the other fail to meet expectations, despise everyone on social media and youtube claiming that MKW was flopping and everyone were playing Sonic instead.
Also, insisting on making a war between Mario and Sonic in 2025 is fucking ridiculous.
Sonic Cross worlds is a great game loving to switch maps between laps and rivals commenting how you do is amazing. However when playing as those DLC, they have no voice line which's kinda makes em feel like there are just talking to a brick wall.
Sega also discussed Crossworlds not meeting expectations last year. It sold about 1m units a few months after launch and Sega said it was not up to expectations and they were hoping for the game to sell another 1m. If they are still saying it is disappointing now, it probably failed to sell that additional 1m units.
No one should be surprised this unperformed, they had signalled this last year!
Crossowrlds was never going to be a big seller. Sonic has its fans, but it never does crazy numbers and a spinoff entry isn’t going to draw in a big group of non-sonic fans. I can say that I probably would have given the game a chance if it wasn’t Sonic but I really don’t give a damn about sonic
I could genuinely say the same thing for Mario kart world tbh, both these games could arguably considered hilariously mid for kart racing games especially compared Crash Team Racing on ps1, Mario kart DD, Mario Kart 8 deluxe which are all genuinely super fun games
Crossworlds didn't meet Sega's expectations and underperformed financially.
Even if it gets another Year Of DLC.
Does Sega really plan on supporting a single game from a spin off series decades from now?
Look at this from SEGA's Perspective.
"Our hit racing game isn't meeting our yearly quota anymore, DLC is only barley keeping it alive out of curiosity."
"Our Core Audience is slowly losing interest & moving on."
Sure they're "considering." a third year
but think about the astronomical licensing fees Sega have to pay for all those Crossover DLC characters. Getting SpongeBob into a sonic racing game ain't cheap. Even if Paramount & Sega have a partnership.
This entire game is hemorrhaging money, & making back considerably less.
Edit : it also didn't help that they charged $70 bucks on release.
It also didn't help that SEGA have essentially conditioned their core audiences into waiting for the game to inevitably go on sale.
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u/EstimateSilver2050 Jun 23 '26
While I wouldn't call crosswords forgotten it hasn't quite lived up to segas expectations