Versions for Amazon Luna and Stadia were made available in July and September 2022, respectively.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is a racing game played from a third-person perspective. In the game, the player assumes control of vehicles from the Hot Wheels franchise, and races against other opponents in miniature tracks set in various everyday locations and environments, such as a garage, kitchen, and bedroom. The game also features a career mode, a time trial, and a track editor. Players had the opportunity to submit their car designs in the “Hot Wheels Unleashed Design Battle” and the winning design was used to create a Hot Wheels toy available for purchase in December 2022.
The game was developed by Italian developer Milestone, the company behind the MotoGP games and the Ride series, and marks the first console game based around the property since 2013. Milestone desired to create such a game after realizing that although they specialized in sim racers that was a "niche of the niche" and the racing genre itself was quite crowded, with lead game designer Federico Cardini telling Polygon "could we make a game to the level of, I don't know, Gran Turismo? The game uses a physics system similar from Milestone's other games, heavily modified so that the cars would be able to perform stunts the series is known for. The team wanted to base the gameplay on physics because they felt that many other Arcade racers felt "scripted" with the cars not reacting to the player's action.
According to Cardini, the development team desired to accurately replicate Hot Wheels vehicles to a "1:1 ratio" in the game. Cardini described the in-game garage as the "inspiration to the entire game", noting its many characteristics.
The game was officially announced in February 2021.
