Warner Bros. Almost Made a Mario Kart Competitor—But It Never Saw the Light of Day

Warner Bros. was working on a racing game inspired by Mario Kart but was ultimately canceled before it could be officially announced.

According to details shared by Colin Moriarty on the Sacred Symbols podcast (Thanks VGC), the game codenamed "Moonlight," was being developed at Warner Bros. Games San Diego.

It was set to feature characters from across the Warner Bros. universe—think Tom and Jerry, Adventure Time, and Scooby-Doo—racing in a fast-paced, kart-style competition. It was designed as a free-to-play, online-only game.

The title was tentatively named "WB Racers" or "XDR" (Cross-Drift Racers), but it never made it to an official reveal.

Moriarty stated that the project got the green light during the early days of the pandemic. Initially, it was meant to launch on consoles, PC, and mobile, but during development, the focus shifted solely to a PC release.

Moonlight was being built using Unreal Engine 5, boasting stylized visuals, smooth vehicle controls, and gameplay similar to Nintendo’s Mario Kart series.

Despite its potential, the game ran into major roadblocks, mainly due to high turnover within the San Diego team. According to Moriarty, over 100 developers worked on the game during its short-lived development cycle.

After the cancellation, internally, there was some frustration among developers. Some team members felt it was unfair that Player First Games’ MultiVersus got multiple launch opportunities while their racing game was shelved before it even had a chance to hit the market.

The game's cancellation coincided with the closure of the San Diego Team in early 2025, along with Player First Games and Monolith Productions. This decision followed a tough year for Warner Bros. Games, marked by the commercial failure of "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League" and the disappointing relaunch of MultiVersus. These setbacks led Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav to highlight the gaming division’s struggles in a financial report in November 2024, calling it a weak spot for the company.

Despite these challenges, Warner Bros. is still betting big on gaming. The company is making a sequel to "Hogwarts Legacy" a top priority, following its massive success in 2023. There are also rumors about the next Batman and Mortal Kombat game.