{"id":62938,"date":"2026-03-13T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=62938"},"modified":"2026-03-13T18:33:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T09:33:36","slug":"tokyo-xtreme-racer-series-big-reboot-actually-started-out-as-a-modern-mobile-game-but-the-prototype-was-scrapped-in-favor-of-a-full-price-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tokyo-xtreme-racer-series-big-reboot-actually-started-out-as-a-modern-mobile-game-but-the-prototype-was-scrapped-in-favor-of-a-full-price-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo Xtreme Racer\u00a0series\u2019\u00a0big reboot\u00a0actually started\u00a0out as a \u201cmodern mobile game,\u201d but the prototype was scrapped in favor of a full-price game\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Today in \u201cdevelopers&nbsp;benefiting&nbsp;from good decision-making,&#8221;&nbsp;<strong>Tokyo Xtreme Racer<\/strong>&nbsp;producer&nbsp;Takatoshi&nbsp;Sato and&nbsp;development manager&nbsp;Toshihiko Sato&nbsp;have revealed that the racing series\u2019 big 2025 comeback&nbsp;didn\u2019t&nbsp;actually start&nbsp;out as a full-price,&nbsp;PC&nbsp;and console game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ending an almost 20-year hiatus in Genki&#8217;s popular franchise, Tokyo Xtreme Racer&nbsp;released on Steam in&nbsp;September 2025,&nbsp;after spending about eight months in Early Access.&nbsp;The game sold&nbsp;so well it&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tokyo-xtreme-racer-developer-turns-around-3-year-deficit-thanks-to-huge-success-of-the-franchises-reboot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">turned around the company\u2019s three-year deficit,<\/a>&nbsp;and to capitalize on the momentum, Genki launched a PS5 version last month (with a playable truck, no less).&nbsp;Commemorating the&nbsp;release, the developers recently gave an interview to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.famitsu.com\/article\/202603\/66935\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Famitsu,<\/a>&nbsp;sharing&nbsp;some behind-the-scenes development insight.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Tokyo Xtreme Racer\u2019s&nbsp;producer&nbsp;Sato,&nbsp;the game went through an overhaul before becoming what it is today. \u201cOriginally, we started development on the project as a mobile game, to align with modern trends&nbsp;in the market. However, after much trial and error, we&nbsp;realized&nbsp;it&nbsp;wasn&#8217;t&nbsp;feeling&nbsp;\u201cTXR-like\u201d&nbsp;enough, and it just&nbsp;wasn&#8217;t&nbsp;coming together well. So, we&nbsp;switched our&nbsp;target platform to Steam and&nbsp;consoles, and&nbsp;made significant changes in direction and content.&#8221;&nbsp;Apparently, this&nbsp;led to significant organizational changes in the development team just a few months before the Early Access launch last year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u3010Tokyo Xtreme Racer\u3011#8\uff1aFull PV\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/umlztIQ7HeE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Regarding the abandoned initial idea, development lead Toshihiko&nbsp;Sato adds, \u201cOne of our&nbsp;&nbsp;themes&nbsp;was to make a game you can drive in forever,&nbsp;but&nbsp;playing&nbsp;past installments&nbsp;made us&nbsp;realize&nbsp;once again&nbsp;that&nbsp;mechanics&nbsp;like&nbsp;tire&nbsp;wear and loss of engine power were crucial&nbsp;for the series.\u201d&nbsp;He says these were just some of several points that made the&nbsp;team&nbsp;realize they&nbsp;weren\u2019t&nbsp;on the right track.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going forward, the&nbsp;developers wish to repay Tokyo Xtreme Racer\u2019s&nbsp;players for their enthusiasm with&nbsp;continued&nbsp;updates and&nbsp;improvements, as well as potential paid DLC&nbsp;that\u2019s&nbsp;currently under consideration.&nbsp;While&nbsp;they\u2019re&nbsp;also quite interested in developing a&nbsp;full-fledged&nbsp;sequel, this will depend on how the newly released PS5 edition performs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tokyo Xtreme Racer is available for PC (<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/2634950\/Tokyo_Xtreme_Racer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>) and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/store.playstation.com\/en-us\/product\/JP0128-PPSA32236_00-TOKYOXTREMERACER\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PS5<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/interview-tokyo-xtreme-racer-is-selling-like-hot-cakes-thanks-to-an-ip-name-more-powerful-than-any-marketing-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Interview: Tokyo Xtreme Racer is selling like hot cakes thanks to an IP name more powerful than any marketing strategy. We talk to Genki about the successful Early Access launch\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/interview-tokyo-xtreme-racers-big-comeback-after-18-years-was-fueled-by-the-booming-popularity-of-japanese-cars-in-the-real-life-car-scene\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Tokyo Xtreme Racer\u2019s big comeback after 18 years was fueled by the booming popularity of Japanese cars in the real-life car scene\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tokyo Xtreme Racer developers look back on the game&#8217;s pre-launch overhaul and subsequent success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":62941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-62938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tokyo Xtreme Racer\u00a0series\u2019\u00a0big reboot\u00a0actually started\u00a0out as a \u201cmodern mobile game,\u201d but the prototype was scrapped in favor of a full-price game\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tokyo Xtreme Racer developers look back on the game&#039;s pre-launch overhaul and subsequent success.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tokyo-xtreme-racer-series-big-reboot-actually-started-out-as-a-modern-mobile-game-but-the-prototype-was-scrapped-in-favor-of-a-full-price-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tokyo Xtreme Racer\u00a0series\u2019\u00a0big reboot\u00a0actually started\u00a0out as a \u201cmodern mobile game,\u201d but the prototype was scrapped in favor of a full-price game\u00a0 - 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