There are plenty of ways to promote a drum & bass single. A video. A remix competition. A moody photoshoot involving some concrete and some kind of hat. T & Sugah, however, have apparently decided that what “Winner” really needed was something that you could win. The outcome; a racing game.
The concept of racing, competition and winning already runs through the track, so the leap from drum & bass single to Mario-inspired racing game was, in their minds, actually rather logical. Or at least logical enough. The Dutch duo have built an entire T & Sugah universe around their new track, complete with themselves behind the wheel, alongside Macky Gee, Blvk H3ro, Potty the Teapot and the Caffeinator. There are sugar cubes and wet tea bags to deploy, because apparently even tea can become a weapon when sufficiently motivated. A cup of tea, meanwhile, gives you a speed boost. Naturally.
“We’ve always liked keeping things playful and not taking ourselves too seriously.” T & Sugah exclusively tell UKF “For ‘Winner’, we wanted to do something that felt different, so we thought: given the song is about ‘winning’, why not make a racing game?” T & Sugah tell UKF exclusively. “We grew up playing Mario Kart and still see people playing it at our HIGH TEA events, so it felt like a perfect fit.”
That playful approach has become part of the duo’s wider identity, and they wanted the campaign to feel like an extension of the world their fans already see online and at their events. Rather than simply sticking a ticket at the end of a social post and calling it a day, they decided that if they were going to build a game, they might as well actually build one. Properly.
And there is a reason to take the competition seriously. The high-score challenge will run for seven days, with the player who manages to hold onto the top spot at the end crowned the winner. But the prize isn’t simply a ticket to a show. The winner will be flown out to see T & Sugah or Macky Gee perform, turning seven days of repeatedly driving tiny digital cars into an actual trip somewhere.
“If someone is dedicated enough to hold the high score for seven days, we wanted to reward them with more than just a ticket, we wanted to give them an experience they’ll never forget!” they add.
That’s the appeal of the whole thing. Winner could have arrived with any number of perfectly sensible release campaigns attached to it. Instead, T & Sugah made a racing game because they thought it would be more fun. The track plays in the background, the tea is weaponised, Potty the Teapot is a completley viable racing driver, and somewhere out there someone is currently fighting for their life at the top of the leaderboard.
Fair enough.
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