The free-to-play kart racer featuring up to 60 participants has had a relatively short life on PC and Xbox consoles, as it’s been announced that Stampede: Racing Royale will close down in Summer 2025.
Developers Sumo Leamington have announced that ‘due to a variety of unexpected events’, the servers will shut down in approximately three months time, which would be around the middle of June. After becoming available to playtesters in 2023, the game was officially released in 2024 for the PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. An exact date for the closure will be announced soon.
New content is still being released on Steam and Xbox in the next few days to complete the first and final Season 1 schedule, with four new circuits (Twin Thruway, Neon Circuit, Wentworth Park and Stratos Raceway), eight new karts (Sabre Slipstream, McAuley JK4/5, Wentworth EX14B, Anima Turbo R, GRT Clash, Korrugated Kardboard, Scrapyard Screamer and the Snooze Cruiser), and more than 130 new visual items.
Ironically, Xbox Achievements have now been added, so you might have to rush if you want to get a perfect gamerscore for Stampede: Racing Royale before it closes.
It’s a shame that Stampede: Racing Royale will close down in Summer 2025. It’s had a very positive review rating on Steam despite daily player numbers dropping down to double figures. And was certainly more likely to have built an audience on Xbox consoles, and other platforms if it had reached them.
The main reason is that the parent Sumo Group announced in February 2025 that they ‘must balance our creative ambitions and the commercial realities to ensure the long-term stability and success of our business’, focusing exclusively on developing servers for partners and ending recent efforts to develop their own IPs. That includes a range of titles published through their own ‘Secret Mode’ publisher, (Deathsprint 66, Critter Cafe, and Stampede: Racing Royale) alongside indie titles developed by other studios. That publisher has now been sold to Emona Capital to carry on independently.
And unfortunately, this also signalled that layoffs were likely; “Unavoidably this transition will have an impact on our studios and people. We are committed to minimising this impact as much as possible, exploring all options to retain talent, and supporting those affected with transparency, care, and compassion.”
Sumo Group was acquired by Tencent in 2022, and owns Sumo Digital, which has divisions in Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Leamington, and Warrington, along with Pune and Bagalore. Racing titles they’ve worked on include Forza Horizon, Hotshot Racing, TOCA Race Drive, Team Sonic Racing and more. Sumo Leamington was established in March 2019, with Stampede: Racing Royale as their debut title.
If you want to try Stampede: Racing Royale before it’s shut down, you can find it on Steam for the PC, or for the PC and Xbox Series X|S via the Microsoft Store. And check out any futher news or updates on the game, here.
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