Players who intend to buy the physical version of "Sonic Racing: Cross World" this fall may be disappointed - according to well-known whistleblowers, the physical version of the game on the Switch 2 platform may be released through the "Game Key Fold".Although "Sonic Racing: Cross World" originally wanted to compete with "Mario Racing: World", many players would probably be disappointed if they could not buy the real physical version of the cassette.
The game was first announced in a brief trailer at the 2024 TGA Awards Ceremony, and players were immediately excited about it - the first new work in the kart racing series since Sonic Team Racing in 2019.The game is currently scheduled to be launched on multiple platforms on September 25, including PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch.Although Switch 2 players can play the first generation of Switch version on the new console, the upgraded version of Switch 2 is scheduled to be released later.
However, Sonic Team may have encountered problems in its competition with Nintendo: whistleblower Wario64 revealed on social media that players who purchase Switch 2's version of Sonic Racing: Cross World may not receive physical cassette games.He quoted a player who shared a screenshot of a conversation with Sega customer service, saying that Switch 2 version of Sonic Racing: Cross World will be released through Nintendo's controversial "Game Key Frame" - a bright red Switch 2 cassette case that does not contain game data and only has built-in keys.Although Sega has not officially confirmed this information, the art picture of the Switch 2 version packaging box leaked earlier this week does not show that the game will be in the form of a key fob.
Nintendo launched the "Game Key Fold" system to allow Switch 2 players who value physical game boxes to still have collections to display - after all, the storage capacity of traditional cassettes is limited, and many games must not only provide digital versions.But Nintendo also stated that the games developed by its first party will not use key fuses, which triggered some players to criticize its "double standards."
Many people compared "Sonic Racing: Cross World" with "Mario Racing: World" released simultaneously with Switch 2 on June 5.But Sega's Takashi Iizuka believes that the two games will bring completely different experiences to players: he said that Sonic Team's works will focus more purely on racing confrontations, while Mario Kart: World is more inclined to "race action games."
