The next couple of months will see the release of two high profile mascot racers; Kirby Air Riders, and Sonic Racing Crossworlds.

Which do you expect to sell more lifetime, and why?

Sonic probably. It's coming for more platforms, and the hype is really big. It will be updated for some time too.

Kirby is Switch 2 exclusive and it will probably sell more in Japan, but I don't think it's enough to top CrossWorlds.

Sonic more than likely - it'll have longer legs than Kirby.

But both will be trampled by Mario Kart World in the long run.


Mario Kart World >>>>> Sonic >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Kirby

What’s tricky about this comparison is that this is a first new Kirby racing game in over two decades. There’s no telling how it’ll hit with casual consumers. Glancing at Sonic, however, if Sonic Generations X Shadow was only able to move 2mil with a movie accompanying a holiday launch, then I struggle to see SRCW doing much more than 1mil holiday quarter (<4mil LTD).

So, my vote goes to Kirby. If Arms could move 3mil copies during FY18, then there’s no reason for Kirby to not at least top 2mil during the holiday quarter (>4mil LTD).

I think Kirby will sell between 2-3M, because Japan will carry the sales.

Sonic will sell around 5M units

Never played the first kirby air rider, and just played the demo yesterday of sonic racing crossworlds (which was really fun).

Asked Ai to list ever sonic and kirby game that was released over the past 8 years and sold over a million copies. Here are the results

Sonic Mania - 2017 - 1+
Sonic Forces - 2017 - 1+
Team Sonic Racing - 2019 - 1+
Sonic Frontiers - 2022 - 4.57
Sonic Origins - 2022 - 1+
Sonic Superstars - 2023 - 1+
Sonic x Shadow Generations - 2024 -2.3

Kirby Star Allies - 2018 - 4+
Kirby Fighters 2 - 2020 - 1.3+
Kirby and the Forgotten Land - 2022 - 7.52
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe - 2023 - 1.5+

My money is on Kirby Air Riders

Superstars hit 2.4mil, no? Also, Forces never got sales figure updates outside of 2017 (I believe?). Only accurate figures from that list would be Frontiers and Shadow Generations, with Frontiers still being a little bit dated.

Even though Sonic tries to ride in the slipstream that Mario kart World leaves, due to not giving players a classic mode, I doubt Sonic will sell very well. It would be a shame considering how open they have been with the beta's, demoes etc. and this game seems to be a return to form. Kirby is made by Nintendo and is iconic and that alone will probably make it sell over 5 million, something I can't see Sonic doing. The only advantage Sonic has is deep discounts to push the sales a bit more forward.

Air Riders is really niche, while some people are actually (a bit dubiously) considering Crossworlds an MK World competitor. I agree Sonic will definitely be much closer to Air Riders in sales, but being multiplat and actually getting some buzz I have a hard time seeing a scenario where it sells less than Air Riders.

Crossworlds has more buzz I believe than any previous Sonic racing game largely due to the crossovers and more traditional structure than Mario Kart World.
I think Kirby Air Riders could get ahead of it for a time, but I think Sonic Racing will outsell it in the long run due to inevitable deep discounts (but not counting its potential inclusion in PS Plus Extra, PS Plus Essential, Game Pass, etc.)
It'll be close. I feel like they have similar ceilings of around 5-6 million units. I don't see either cracking 10 million units. Sonic and Kirby have never sold that high, and I don't see that starting now (though perhaps Forgotten Land will crack 10 million in the long run since it now has a Switch 2 Edition).