Sonic the Hedgehog is all about speed, and Sega has just announced a new cross-promotion with the UK’s McLaren Racing team. The past few years have been an exciting time for Sonic the Hedgehog fans thanks to big game releases like Sonic Frontiers and Sonic X Shadow Generations, along with the continuing success of the live-action Sonic movie franchise. Later this year, Sonic and company will tear up the tracks in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, a new kart racer that will let players drive their way through dimensional portals to get ahead of the competition.
Sonic is also no stranger to crossovers, with the aforementioned Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds featuring guest appearances from Like a Dragon, Minecraft, and even SpongeBob SquarePants as part of its post-launch DLC plans. Outside of gaming, Sonic and his friends are teaming up with the Justice League in an ongoing IDW/DC Comics crossover that sees characters like Shadow the Hedgehog don the costumes and identities of famous superheroes like Batman.
Related Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Officially Reveals Its Next Crossover
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds officially shows off the next crossover content coming to the highly-anticipated racing game, featuring an iconic franchise.
PostsThe recent wave of Sonic the Hedgehog crossovers and collaborations is now branching out into the real world with a newly announced partnership between Sega and McLaren Racing. This team-up was revealed in a post on McLaren's official Twitter account (via VGC), which says that the British motor racing team's collaboration with Sega will run all year long through Sonic Team’s “Racing Around the World” campaign, Sonic’s 35th anniversary celebrations, and the McLaren F1 team’s 1,000th Grand Prix.
Sonic Teams up With McLaren Racing
Sega is describing this new partnership as “a reunion more than thirty years in the making,” which is a callback to the 1993 Formula One European Grand Prix. Sega hosted the event that year and sponsored the Williams Racing team drivers Alain Prost and Damon Hill. However, it was McLaren racer Ayrton Senna who won, leading to him holding a special Sonic-themed racing trophy at the victory podium that still sits in McLaren’s archives to this day.
CloseIn a related statement, Sega/Atlus Vice President of Brand Marketing Marcella Churchill noted that racing is “in the DNA of both the Sonic and McLaren brands,” and that this new crossover will hopefully excite gaming and racing fans alike. McLaren Racing chief marketing officer Louise McEwen added that the team is excited to “welcome Sonic the Hedgehog to the McLaren Racing family,” and that the team-up will celebrate the rich heritage and passionate fanbase of Sonic the Hedgehog and open McLaren to a wider, younger audience. The new pairing is all the more fitting since Sonic Racing: CrossWords is set to launch on September 25.
