Sonic the Hedgehog has been back in a big way thanks to the success of the films, and SEGA is also pushing the franchise in a new direction with Sonic Frontiers. Though the game hasn’t released yet, we do have confirmation that it is the start of a new era of Sonic games.
Talking to Venture Beat, head of the Sonic Frontiers creative director Takashi Iizuka has confirmed that SEGA is already thinking up what the next decade of Sonic games are going to be like. He confirms:
“We really wanted to think about where we need to take Sonic for the next 10 years. What kind of gameplay do we need to start building out to keep people excited for the future? Sonic Frontiers is that next step for the next 10 years. We hope that fans believe in us and that they enjoy what we’re showing them. We’re looking forward to when they get to play it and really understand what it’s about.”
Though Sonic the Hedgehog remains to be one of SEGA’s most popular characters, there admittedly has been some discord with the fanbase on which kind of game Sonic plays best in. Though he did have his roots in 2D, some prefer having Sonic run in the 3D space—but that’s just proven to be confusing and clunky for fans of classic Sonic.
We don’t know exactly what Frontiers will bring, but it should be interesting to see Sonic really have this open world that he can just speed in and out of. Hopefully we don’t have to wait too long for the next reveal.
Sonic Frontiers is expected to launch for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 4|5 sometime this year.