CrossWorlds Reveals New Pac-Man Content

Sonic Racing CrossWorlds is releasing even more post-launch DLC this week with the Pac-Man content, which adds a heap of new content for players to dig into later this week. It’s been a big year for SEGA and its hit racing title, launching later in 2025 but quickly becoming a fan favorite. Although Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds didn’t manage to take home The Game Award’s big Best Sports/Racing Game of the Year prize, it remains a popular pick for many.

Embracing the “rival” role, Sonic Racing CrossWorlds managed to score impressive sales numbers and positive reviews from critics and fans. Undaunted by the fact that Nintendo also launched Mario Kart World earlier in the year with the Nintendo Switch 2, SEGA chose to embrace the rivalry, with Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka even throwing a bit of shade at its competitor. Also helped by the fact that SOnic Racing CrossWorlds is a true multiplatform title, SEGA has also leaned heavily into DLC to help keep the game feeling fresh and adding some fresh faces to the constantly expanding roster.

I Like Mario Kart World. It Did Not Deserve to Win at The Game Awards

Mario Kart World picked up the trophy for Best/Sports Racing Game at The Game Awards 2025, but there were two way better kart racers this year.

Sonic Racing CrossWorlds Pac-Man DLC Release Date

In a special announcement, SEGA has confirmed that the next big DLC pack featuring Pac-Man will be available starting on January 7, 2026. The teaser trailer offered a quick tease of the content, wrapped in a classic throwback of the original Pac-Man arcade game and leaderboard which revealed the content’s launch date. The end of the trailer reveals a new Pac-Man themed machine, plus 4 additional racers of Pac-Man, Inky, Blinky, Clyde, and Pinky. The DLC will also include a course, but the trailer didn’t showcase it, leaving fans to speculate on what it might actually look like.

Similar to the previously released Sonic Racing CrossWorlds DLC, the Pac-Man launch is also getting its own limited-time festival event starting on January 8 to celebrate the new content’s launch. Better yet, the festival is open to all players, even those who don’t own the Pac-Man-specific content. While the Festival details aren’t yet known (at time of publication), it’ll likely function similarly to past Festival events where players can earn special limited-time rewards, though without the option of World Match, which is typically locked and unavailable until the event comes to an end on January 11.

Clearly, DLC has been a major priority for SEGA, though unlike the Mario Kart series, which typically adds other Nintendo-based characters, Sonic Racing CrossWorlds has taken the opposite approach by adding characters from third party companies. Already, fans have seen the likes of Minecraft, SpongeBob SquarePants, and now, Pac-Man, though there’s plenty more on the horizon. Fans have already seen a Sonic Racing and Mega Man crossover teaser, but later in 2026, the game will also be adding even more Nickelodeon content from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem and Avatar Legends. For now, the racers, machines, and potential levels aren’t known, so players will need to stay tuned for more.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Apotos and Holoska courses

However, paid content hasn’t been the only post-launch releases that SEGA has added over time, as free updates have also been fairly plentiful in the months after the game released. Players could earn the Blue Star Extreme Gear DLC from Sonic Riders as a free reward for just signing up for a SEGA account and linking their platform. Other SEGA franchises, like NiGHTS, Like a Dragon, Super Monkey Ball, and others, have also been included as DLC from new playable characters to machines and other items.