Even though Crash Team Racing comes out this Friday, Activision invited me to chat with the developers about a newly announced feature that we’ll see shortly after launch. Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled’s Grand Prix isn’t a traditional game mode like other racing games might have. Instead, this mode acts as a kind of seasonal pass to earn limited time cosmetic items by simply playing the game, but it’s entirely free.
This idea was popularized by free-to-play battle royale games as a way to both monetize and retain ongoing playerbases beyond launch. Normally these battle passes cost money and allow for bonus items to be earned as you collect experience and earn wins. In this case, each new Grand Prix season will be entirely free, and just playing the game and completing challenges will fill up a nitro gauge, earning rewards at varying intervals. The final grand reward for each season will be a new racer. Tawna will be the first one, Baby T will follow during the second, and finally in the third, Spyro will be added. In addition, each Grand Prix will add a brand new original track to the game, adding to an already exceptionally robust game.
The team at Beenox wouldn’t detail exactly what challenges would be headed to the game with the Grand Prix, but they insinuated these things could be accomplished by simply playing the game in any mode, so I’d expect to see things like getting podium finishes, using items, or maybe even ridiculous challenges like number of hops performed. It’s an incredible way to add an ongoing chase to Crash Team Racing, promote playing the game in different ways, but also still allowing players to hop in and play the modes they want to.
Right now there’s no word on how long each seasonal Grand Prix will last, and they aren’t announcing anything past the first three quite yet, but they hinted that the limited time rewards will eventually rotate around again, so if you miss out on a sweet character skin or grabbing Spyro as a racer, you’ll get another shot.
The first Grand Prix goes live on July 3, just a short week and a half after the game launches. We’ll probably get more information on the exact length of the Grand Prix seasons closer to launch, which will give us a better estimate on when you can start working towards earning Spyro as the newest racer in the game.
We’re currently working on our own review of Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, so keep an eye out for that as we get closer to launch.
What do you think of the Grand Prix seasonal events? Is this an effective way to keep the pedal to the metal long after the game has left the starting gate?
