SpeedRunners

The King of Speed tournament marked a major highlight during this period, culminating in Ahmad being crowned the King of Speed 2026 on June 5. Additionally, a new map contest launched, inviting players to submit their own maps while the results of the previous contest were also revealed.

• Tournament Events: The King of Speed Tournament was announced on April 19, providing players with opportunities to qualify for the event. The tournament concluded with Ahmad winning on June 5, solidifying his title as the champion.
  • Prize Pool Announcement: The 2026 tournament featured a prize pool with matching contributions from the organizer, enhancing the competitive stakes.
• New Content: A new map contest began on April 19, allowing submissions of maps not currently in the curated list. The Phase 1 Results were announced on May 15, with five out of seven submissions passing inspection.
  • Map Survey: A Curated Map Survey launched on April 19 to determine which maps would be included in the curated workshop list, followed by a community vote on preferences.
• Streaming Updates: The King of Speed TV Streams became available on YouTube starting April 19, expanding tournament coverage beyond Twitch. A Season Beta for King of Speed TV was announced on June 5 to restructure based on player feedback.
• Badges Awarded: On June 5, badges were awarded to supporters and participants of the tournament, acknowledging their contributions and involvement in the community.
• Map Curation Changes: The results of the map survey and contest were shared on June 5, leading to the removal of certain maps from curation and the selection of Banished Keep as the contest winner.

SpeedRunners celebrated its tenth anniversary with the launch of Tournament Mode, allowing up to 64 players to compete in a battle royale format. This update, along with the introduction of a new official map, Museum, and the 8-Players Mode, significantly expanded the game's competitive options.

• Major Content Drops:
  • Tournament Mode launched on September 19, 2025, featuring a single-elimination format for 64 players.
  • Museum Map introduced on September 19, 2025, offering alternative layouts.
  • 8-Players Mode made available on September 19, 2025, enabling casual competition for up to 8 players.
• New Content:
  • New Runner: Maneki Neko 2.0 debuted on September 19, 2025, with updated visuals.
  • Curated Workshop Pool Expansion added new maps such as Club House and Dragon City on December 21, 2025.
  • Alternative Layouts for all classic maps were introduced on September 19, 2025.

• Gameplay Updates:
  • A New Map Pool Refresh Schedule was established on December 18, 2025, refreshing every six months.
  • Top 20 Maps were locked in on December 18, 2025, ensuring their permanence in future surveys.
  • Mapmaker Contest was introduced, with two contests planned annually starting April 1, 2026.

• Seasonal Events:
  • The Lord of the Runs: Stuffed Edition tournament took place on November 29, 2025, featuring a 16-player elimination format.
  • An announcement for the KOSTV Seasonal Event in 2026 was made on December 21, 2025.

• UI/UX Changes:
  • The Weekly Twitch Stream Schedule shifted to Fridays on November 12, 2025.

SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed was announced on April 10, 2025, revealing the highly anticipated sequel with enhanced gameplay and a new art style. Alongside this major announcement, the game saw the introduction of new maps from community contests and test seasons, including a curated workshop featuring popular player creations.

• New Maps:
  • Oasis and Titan were enabled as part of the Curated Workshop Test Season starting January 15, 2025.
  • 14 new maps, including Diamond Club and Jungle Juice, were added from a community contest on December 2, 2024.
  • The maps Bensen and Derpp's creations joined the curated workshop playlist on January 8, 2025.

• Gameplay Changes:
  • Tournament modifier settings were merged into Ranked modifier settings on October 8, 2024, eliminating triple boxes in Ranked games.
  • Curated Workshop list updates allowed for the rotation of maps after major tournaments and between seasons.

• Seasonal Events:
  • The new TEST season for the Curated Workshop ran from January 15 to March 31, 2025, featuring 17 maps.
  • The Lord of the Runs tournament kicked off on September 1, 2024, with a base prize pool of $100.
  • The SPEEDtember Grand Championships took place on September 29, 2024, featuring a multi-stage tournament format.

• Balance Changes:
  • The grapple cooldown was reduced from 0.25 seconds to 0.2 seconds on October 8, 2024.

• Shop Updates:
  • An 80% off sale for SpeedRunners 1 ran from April 10 to April 21, 2025.

• Community Engagement:
  • A live developer Q&A was scheduled for April 14, 2025, allowing players to engage directly with the team.

Tracked sources for SpeedRunners were limited between 2023-04-19 and 2024-04-19, with only 2 verified changes captured in this window. The recorded activity centers on New +dumpstats Launch Option and Three New Curated Levels Added and sits between Moved from XNA to FNA on Windows on 2023-03-25 (performance) and SPEEDtember Grand Championships Details on 2024-04-25 (seasonal_event), making this a light but still readable period in the game's history.

• Verified activity: 2024-03-24 - New +dumpstats Launch Option: Players can now use the +dumpstats launch option to create a JSON formatted file with game stats each time the game is run.; 2024-02-20 - Three New Curated Levels Added: Three levels from the Frosty Fight Club mapmaker contest have been added to the curated workshop list..
• What stands out: The period is defined more by a small number of isolated updates than by a large roadmap beat or expansion-sized release.
• Before this window: The closest earlier tracked activity was Moved from XNA to FNA on Windows on 2023-03-25 (performance).
• After this window: The next tracked activity was SPEEDtember Grand Championships Details on 2024-04-25 (seasonal_event).

SpeedRunners transitioned to the FNA engine on March 25, 2023, marking a significant upgrade aimed at improving performance across the board. This update also included enhancements to the level select menu and reduced loading times, making the game more responsive for players.

• Performance Upgrade: The game moved from XNA to FNA on Windows for better overall performance.
• Level Selection Improvement: The level select menu now performs better when navigating a large number of workshop levels.
• Loading Time Reduction: Players experienced improved loading times for a smoother gameplay experience.
• UI Update: The Velocity badge received an update to enhance the user interface.

SpeedRunners expanded its platform reach by launching on Nintendo Switch on August 30, 2019, allowing a new audience to enjoy the fast-paced racing experience. The introduction of bounce pads in the level editor on May 1, 2019, also provided players with new creative tools to design custom levels.

• New Platform: SpeedRunners launched on Nintendo Switch, broadening its accessibility and player base.
• Level Editor Update: Bounce pads became available in the level editor, enhancing gameplay mechanics for custom levels.
• Seasonal Event: A crossover with Secret Neighbor was announced for Halloween, bringing themed content to the game.

The New Character Pack DLC launched on July 19, 2018, introducing four new characters: Showtime, Cannon Fyodor, Diamond Diva, and Dashwell. Additionally, the game expanded significantly with the introduction of the Boostacokes mechanic and the launch of SpeedRunners on iOS on March 30, 2019.

• New Gameplay Mechanic: The Boostacokes mechanic allowed players to pick up boostacokes to increase their maximum speed.
• New Official Map: A new map themed around the Boostacokes mechanic, called Laboratory, was introduced on January 25, 2019.
• Teamplay Features: A team update on July 19, 2018, added 2v2, 2v1, and 2v1v1 team matches, allowing players to choose between team SPEED or team RUNNING.
  • Players could swap items with teammates and share boost bars during matches.
  • A new team scoring system required teams to score 4 points to win a match.
• SpeedRuiners Modifier: Released on August 31, 2018, this modifier enabled explosions to destroy level geometry, opening up new shortcuts and routes.
• Seasonal Events: The ELO Christmas Season ran from December 17, 2018, to January 20, 2019, culminating in a tournament for the top 16 players and offering seasonal rewards, including badges and themed trails.
• Quality of Life Improvement: The SpeedRuiners modifier became available as a custom game option after its initial active period on August 31, 2018.

The ELO Winter Season launched on December 18, 2017, bringing new competitive elements to SpeedRunners, along with unique rewards for top players. Players in the Diamond league received a unique Snow Trail as a seasonal reward, while all participants earned a Winter ELO Season Badge based on their league tier.

• Gameplay Changes:
  • Increased Points for Matches: Players earned more points for matches, leading to heightened league requirements.
  • Inactivity Penalties Introduced: Players who did not average one game per day over 14 days faced a daily loss of 100 points.
  • Adjusted Initial Ratings: Initial ratings were recalibrated based on previous Beta season ratings to enhance matchmaking quality.

• Seasonal Events:
  • ELO Winter Season: This competitive season ran from December 18, 2017, to March 20, 2018.
  • Holiday Surprise Announcements: A small surprise was added to the game starting December 21, 2017, although details remained under wraps.

SpeedRunners officially launched out of Early Access with version 1.0 on April 19, 2016, bringing a wealth of new content including a single-player campaign and support for Mac and Linux. Notable features added during the year also included Discord voice chat integration and the introduction of a Beta ELO ranking system that allowed players to compete for seasonal badges.

• Launch of SpeedRunners 1.0: The game transitioned from Early Access to full launch, introducing a single-player campaign with story elements and challenges derived from multiplayer maps.
• Discord Voice Chat Integration: Added voice chat support, enabling players to communicate during matches and in lobbies.
• Beta ELO Ranking System: A new competitive ranking system was introduced, allowing players to earn badges based on their performance in the beta season, which ran from April 13 to May 14, 2017.
• Seasonal Badges: Players could earn badges representing their league performance at the end of each season.
• Trails Shop & Editor: Players gained the ability to create and submit custom trails for a curated shop.
• GIF Editor & Exporter: A new feature allowed players to crop and export GIFs directly from their replays.

• Improved Skill-based Matchmaking: The matchmaking system was refined to better pair players based on skill level.
• All New Ranking UI: A complete overhaul of the ranking interface focused on personal achievements and included trend indicators.
• Introduction of Ban System: The first version of a ban system was implemented to address player abuse, enhancing the community experience.