Sumo Digital's history with "Sonic" caused speculation that it was developing a new "Sega All-Stars" title, which Webber denied. Despite his response, several toy companies alluded to a future "Sonic" kart racing game in February 2018. For example, a representative for the company Zappies reported at the Spielwarenmesse toy fair in Nuremberg that a third "Sonic" kart racing game was in development and that it planned to produce promotional toy figures. "Sonic" fans noted Webber's comments just alluded to the "Sega All-Stars" name and did not discount the premise of a new "Sonic" racing game, and further rumors of a game without any other Sega IPs involved arose later in February. Sega scheduled a "Sonic"-related announcement for its March 16, 2018 show at the SXSW convention. While Sega did not reveal the racing game there, the official series Twitter account teased it. In May 2018, after the game leaked in a Walmart retail listing, Sega confirmed "Team Sonic Racing" was in development. "Eurogamer" expressed disappointment that it did not include any non-"Sonic" characters as playable racers, which its writer believed was one of the best things about "Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing" and its sequel. However, he remained optimistic, believing Sumo Digital's experience with "Sonic" would ensure the game would be a similar, "fundamentally brilliant arcade racer". Sega initially slated "Team Sonic Racing" for release in late 2018, but delayed it to May 21, 2019, that October to give Sumo Digital more development time. Iizuka later clarified that there were problems with the online mode that took more time than anticipated to fix. A demo version was playable at E3 2018 in June. The demo, which featured one track and six playable characters, was described by "Kotaku" as underwhelming, unfavorably comparing it to "Mario Kart". "Kotaku" argued the demo lacked ambition and called its character lineup shallow, especially when compared to that of "Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed". A more optimistic opinion came from "IGN": although he considered the power-ups generic, the writer felt the game still had a good foundation and that the team gameplay was satisfying. "Hardcore Gamer" nominated it as E3's best racing game, but it lost to "Forza Horizon 4". Sega released a trailer to promote the game at E3, featuring the theme song and an in-depth look at the gameplay.