The Burger King Xbox games are three titles sold from 19 November 2006 for $3.99 each with a value meal: Sneak King, PocketBike Racer and Big Bumpin'. Blitz Games built them for a Crispin Porter + Bogusky campaign. Every disc played on both Xbox and Xbox 360, and Burger King counted more than 3.2 million copies sold.
We pieced this together from our library record, Burger King's own quarterly results, 2006–07 trade press, a pre-launch interview with Blitz Games and award archives. Sales figures vary, so each comes with its date and source.
The Burger King Xbox games at a glance
Sneak King / PocketBike Racer / Big Bumpin' — Burger King (2006)
Developer: Blitz Games · Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky · Mechanic: Arcade & Action · Platform: Xbox and Xbox 360, one disc per game
Brand: Burger King · On sale: from 19 November 2006 · Objective: Sales
These were three boxed console games, all rated E for Everyone, each on a disc carrying separate Xbox and Xbox 360 builds (ClickZ). The 360 versions came with achievements worth 200 Gamerscore points per game (MCV). During the promotion they were sold only in Burger King restaurants (Metacritic): you bought a value meal and added $3.99 per game (Chief Marketer).
Why were Xbox games sold at Burger King?
Because every copy meant a restaurant visit. The games were sold at the counter over the 2006 holidays, and Engadget's Kevin Kelly paid $15 for all three plus one meal, after talking a manager out of making him buy three meals (Engadget).
The restaurants were also what Microsoft wanted. Russ Klein, then Burger King's president of global marketing, strategy and innovation, said Microsoft was drawn by 7,200 high-traffic restaurants in the holiday season (Game Developer). The new console's audience was still small: Microsoft's Kevin Browne said over 5.1 million Xbox 360s had been sold by the end of June 2006 (ClickZ).
Who made Sneak King, PocketBike Racer and Big Bumpin'?
The UK studio Blitz Games built all three. According to Blitz head Philip Oliver, the project began as Xbox Live Arcade downloads for the Xbox 360; Burger King then asked for boxed games, and the Xbox and Xbox 360 versions went on one disc (Game Developer). He said Burger King wanted to reach players aged 12 to 18 or 20, and that Blitz had seven months for three original games in two versions each, with a team of up to about 60 people. EGM dates the start of development to February 2006 (EGM).
Crispin Porter + Bogusky had launched the King campaign in 2004 (EGM). The One Show credits CP+B Miami as the agency and Blitz Games as developer, with creative directors from Equity Marketing listed beside Alex Bogusky and Rob Reilly (The One Show).
Sneak King: deliver a burger without being seen
You play The King. Thought bubbles show who is hungry, and you creep up behind them or spring out of a hiding place to hand over the food before they spot you (Wikipedia). Getting seen sets off an alarm, so hay bales and boxes are your cover (Engadget). Four levels (Saw Mill, Cul-De-Sac, Construction Zone and Downtown) hold 20 challenges each. Points come from the customer's hunger, your stealth, how close you got and your style; a well-timed button press on the Flourish meter as you serve adds style points (Wikipedia).
Blitz's project manager Chris Swan later called it the riskiest of the three and said the team ran out of iteration and polish time on it (EGM). It holds a Metascore of 54 from 16 critic reviews (Metacritic).
PocketBike Racer: kart racing on miniature motorbikes
Burger King badly wanted its characters on pocket bikes, Oliver said, and left the mechanics to Blitz (Game Developer). It is a kart racer in the Mario Kart mould, with The King and characters such as the Subservient Chicken on the bikes (EGM). You fire power-ups such as missiles and dynamite and can race online over Xbox Live (Engadget). Its Metascore is 54 from 12 critic reviews (Metacritic).
Big Bumpin': bumper cars with power-ups
You drive a bumper car and ram rivals off a platform arena, with up to four players on a split screen or eight over Xbox Live, according to our record. Engadget rated it the best of the three and singled out an online Bumper Hockey mode (Engadget). Critics rated it highest too, with a Metascore of 63 from 16 reviews (Metacritic).
| Game | What you do | Metascore |
|---|---|---|
| Sneak King | Sneak up on hungry people and serve them unseen | 54 (16 reviews) |
| PocketBike Racer | Kart-style racing on miniature motorbikes | 54 (12 reviews) |
| Big Bumpin' | Bumper-car battles, split screen or online | 63 (16 reviews) |
How many copies did the Burger King games sell?
Result: more than 2 million copies in the first four weeks, Burger King said in December 2006, twice the 1 million mark at which a game usually counts as a blockbuster (QSR Web). EGM cites a 2007 Ad Age report of 2.5 million copies in the first five weeks, with the three games, taken together, among the top 10 best-selling games of 2006 (EGM). Burger King's results for the quarter to 31 December 2006 put sales at more than 3.2 million copies and called the collection the best-selling video game of the holiday season (SEC filing). CP+B's own count in January 2007 was lower, at more than 2.7 million (Wikipedia). Before launch, the chain had hoped eventually to move five million (ClickZ).
In that results release, chief executive John Chidsey credited the Value Menu and the Xbox collection with lifting sales and traffic. Net income rose 41% to $38 million, revenue 9% to $559 million, and comparable sales 4.4% in North America and 3.7% worldwide (SEC filing). The 41% is often misquoted online as a sales increase; in the company's own figures, it is profit. Asked about that quarter in May 2007, Klein said Burger King "attributed the majority of our success during that quarter" to the games (Game Developer).
The campaign won the Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2007 (Love the Work) and a Gold Pencil at The One Show 2007 (The One Show).
- February 2006Development startsEGM’s date for the start of development at Blitz Games. Blitz head Philip Oliver said the studio had seven months for three original games in two versions each.
- 19 November 2006On sale at Burger KingSneak King, PocketBike Racer and Big Bumpin’, $3.99 each with a value meal, sold only in Burger King restaurants over the 2006 holidays. Before launch, the chain hoped eventually to move five million.
- December 2006More than 2 million copiesBurger King’s count for the first four weeks. A 2007 Ad Age report, cited by EGM, gives 2.5 million for the first five weeks.
- Quarter to 31 December 2006More than 3.2 million copiesBurger King’s quarterly results, which call the collection the best-selling video game of the holiday season; net income rose 41% to $38 million.
- January 2007CP+B counts more than 2.7 millionThe agency’s own count, lower than Burger King’s.
- 2007AwardsThe Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes Lions and a Gold Pencil at The One Show.
- November 2021Final backward compatible batchMicrosoft calls it the final addition to the programme. None of the three was in its backward compatible games library when we checked on 12 October 2026.
Why the Burger King Xbox games worked
- Sold, not given away. At $3.99 the buyer risked little, and every copy came with a meal.
- Distribution first. Busy restaurants in the holiday season made a shop window few game publishers had.
- Characters with fans. The King and the Subservient Chicken were already known from the ads. Oliver said Burger King was protective of how its characters came across, less so of its logo.
- A real console product. Achievements, Xbox Live play and a standard game case made it feel like a proper release.
- An end date. The offer ran for the holidays only, a reason to buy now. Our Christmas brand games list shows how others timed seasonal play.
Where it fell short, and when not to copy it
Reviews were middling, with Metascores of 54 to 63. A 2012 Game Developer blog post called the project a failed experiment, arguing that the standard Xbox 360 case invited comparison with big-budget games (Game Developer). Three games in seven months left little time for polish, and Sneak King shows it.
The lesson is about conditions, not consoles. Don't try this without a channel that already puts millions of people in front of your product, a character they will pay to play, and a fixed sales window. If the goal is a daily habit rather than one big sale, a lighter format can do the job: Burger King's own BK Village (2024) gave Royal Perks members a daily December deal from a mailbox in a snowy web town.
Legacy: Burger King kept playing
Blitz used part of the Burger King money to fund Blitz Arcade, a division for new downloadable games (Game Developer). Burger King kept coming back to players: Craft A Western Whopper (2018) let Swedish Red Dead Redemption 2 players scan in-game ingredients for a real Whopper voucher, Burn That Ad (2019) set rivals' ads on fire in the Brazilian BK app, and Mission: Whopper (2022) asked Call of Duty squads to finish with a scoreboard stacked like a burger. For the wider story, read our fast food games round-up and the history of advergames.
FAQ
How many Burger King Xbox games are there?
Three: Sneak King, a stealth game; PocketBike Racer, a kart racer on miniature motorbikes; and Big Bumpin', a bumper-car game. They went on sale together on 19 November 2006, only with a Burger King value meal, for $3.99 each. Every disc holds both an Xbox and an Xbox 360 version (ClickZ). See the full case.
When was Sneak King released?
Sneak King came out on 19 November 2006 for Xbox and Xbox 360, developed by Blitz Games (Metacritic). It was sold in participating Burger King restaurants over the 2006 holidays, alongside PocketBike Racer and Big Bumpin'. In its results for the quarter to 31 December 2006, Burger King said the collection had sold more than 3.2 million copies (SEC filing).
How did you get the Burger King games?
You ordered a value meal at a participating Burger King and paid $3.99 extra for each game (QSR Web). They were boxed discs, not downloads, although the project started out as Xbox Live Arcade titles (Game Developer). The offer ran over the 2006 holiday season.
Do the Burger King games work on Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S?
We found no sign that they do. None of the three appears in Microsoft's backward compatible games library when we checked on 12 October 2026, and Microsoft called its November 2021 batch the final addition to the programme, citing licensing, legal and technical limits (Xbox Wire). The discs were made for the original Xbox and the Xbox 360 only.
More food brands that turned play into sales sit in our food and drink collection and under the sales objective; if you made a campaign game we are missing, send it to us.