Kart Fighter World Tour
- Brand
- Red Bull
- Year
- 2011
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Racing & Sports
- Platform
- Social
Objective
Red Bull Kart Fighter was part of the brand's early move into branded content and gaming — a free mobile game that let Red Bull stay in front of its young motorsport audience between real-world events, rather than relying only on traditional advertising.
Solution
Players race a kart in top-down arcade style through courses built inside recognizable real-world landmarks, including a run through the White House and the Oval Office. In World Tour mode, players work their way across countries, taking first place on each track to earn credits that unlock kart upgrades and unlock Game Center achievements. A second mode, Challenge, has two players pass the same device back and forth: one sets a fast lap, then the other races against that lap's ghost. Race results and standings tie into Facebook, so players can compare scores with friends after each session.
Results
Within five days of its 2011 launch, Red Bull Kart Fighter passed 10 million downloads and reached the top 10 in more than 100 countries; by July 2013 the original game had logged over 10 million downloads total. A week after Red Bull Kart Fighter World Tour launched in March 2012, it ranked among the top 10 most popular free games in Apple's App Store. The series' third entry, Unbeaten Tracks, reached #3 in the UK App Store.
- 1
The player downloads the game for free and lands on a title screen inviting them to take on tracks around the globe and try to win in every country.
- 2
From the main menu, the player picks World Tour, a campaign built around a map of countries where the goal is to take first place on every track, or Challenge, a local head-to-head mode for racing a friend on one device.
- 3
Before each race, the player chooses a control scheme: automatic steering, which keeps the kart on line and leaves the player to manage speed and braking, or manual steering.
- 4
Races are shown from a top-down view on 2D tracks, with the player's kart running against several opponents at once; steering is limited to left and right, there is no reverse, and hitting a barrier effectively ends the run.
- 5
Tracks wind through recognizable buildings and landmarks — palaces, senates and parliaments in the original, settings such as the White House and the Oval Office in the sequel — and scatter speed boosts along the route, a mechanic introduced in the second game.
- 6
Winning races earns credits, which the player spends on kart upgrades to go faster on later tracks, while race performance also unlocks Game Center achievements.
- 7
In Challenge mode, one player sets a lap time and hands the device to a friend, who races against a recorded 'ghost' of that lap; players can take turns this way against up to six opponents in sequence.
- 8
The player's scores feed into a Facebook-connected leaderboard that ranks them against the wider player community, and downloadable themed tracks plus a custom music playlist round out each session.
