Hot Wheels Unleashed reaches huge sales milestone

To say that Hot Wheels Unleashed has been a huge hit for Milestone is an understatement. In fact, it’s now the most successful game in the Italian studio’s history, outselling Milestone’s MotoGP, Monster Energy Supercross, MXGP, SBK, and Ride brands.

Launched back in September 2021, Hot Wheels Unleashed is an arcade-style racer where you drift, boost, and jump dinky diecast cars in full-scale environments.

Now, Milestone has announced Hot Wheels Unleashed has reached a huge sales milestone.

Hot Wheels Unleashed surpasses two million sales

Since it launched 19 months ago, Hot Wheels Unleashed has sold more than two million units worldwide according to Milestone.

That’s impressive when you consider the arcade racer is free to play on Xbox Game Pass and the PlayStation Plus collection. Thanks to its wide availability, more than eight million players have registered Hot Wheels Unleashed across all platforms.

“We are always excited to find great partners that help us bring Mattel’s brands to fans in all-new ways”, said Mike DeLaet, Global Head of Digital Gaming at Mattel.

“Milestone has done a phenomenal job with Hot Wheels Unleashed, and we’re thrilled that the Hot Wheels community has loved the game as much as we loved creating it”.

Milestone’s CEO Luisa Bixio added: “Hot Wheels boasts one of the most engaged and passionate fan bases of any brand in the world. We’re proud that Mattel trusted us to bring the brand to life in Hot Wheels Unleashed, and so pleased with how consumers have responded.”

Milestone also revealed that players have spent the equivalent of 929 years playing Hot Wheels Unleashed and designed over one million liveries in the Livery Editor, with the number of liveries submitted in a single day peaking at 20,000.

Furthermore, the Hot Wheels Twin Mill 2021 is the most popular car, used for over 20 per cent of all races played, and over 350,000 original tracks have been created in the Track Builder.

A new challenger is coming

With the monumental success of Hot Wheels Unleashed, a sequel seems inevitable. But there’s another toy racer on the horizon that could dethrone it: LEGO 2K Drive.

Launching in May, LEGO 2K Drive is in development by Visual Concepts, the studio behind the NBA 2K and WWE 2K sports games. Unlike Hot Wheels Unleashed, LEGO 2K Drive is set in a sprawling open world made of LEGO bricks with distinct biomes and smashable environments.

With accessible controls, in-depth vehicle customisation, and LEGO’s signature humour, LEGO 2K Drive looks like a fun, family-friendly racer and has the potential to be a huge hit.

As a toy brand, LEGO arguably has a wider appeal than Hot Wheels, so it will be interesting to see how LEGO 2K Drive’s sales compare. Hot Wheels Unleashed is about to face some stiff competition.