Venture Beat have had a in-depth chat with Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka about Sonic Frontiers and where he sees the Sonic franchise going forward. Mr. Iizuka says that what the team has been doing for the past few years has been laying the groundwork for the future of the Sonic the Hedgehog series for at least the next ten years. Obviously technology changes and new opportunities usher in to do more with computing power and the medium in general.
The team has decided to put Sonic into generations with the first generation being the classic SEGA Master System and SEGA Mega Drive 2D platforming games, then bringing Sonic into 3D with the more powerful SEGA Dreamcast with the Sonic Adventure games. Now he says Sonic is basically in the third generation due to the computing power of the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 opening up larger worlds for Sonic to thrive in for the years to come. Mr. Iizuka reiterated that he can’t wait for people to play the finished version of Sonic Frontiers which is scheduled for all current platforms including the Nintendo Switch later this year.
“When we look at the previous games, the first generation was side-scrolling, that classic Sonic gameplay. The second generation was the more modern gameplay, from Sonic Adventure on. What we’re doing now is taking the next step. This is the third generation, almost. We know we’re showing fans something new that maybe doesn’t make sense to them yet.
But 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.”
Being honest I wish they show more rather than tell can we see some zones aside from bad quality leaks I saw from summer game fest
Yeah, I just wish they can just show us a simple small cutscene for the game and other zones and maybe lizuka will explain to us what engine it runs for Sonic Frontiers. Some people believe it will be the same engine as Sonic Forces.
Iizuka should consider a career as a comedian.
Very funny.
Considering I have little faith this project isn’t being handled well, this news isn’t reassuring. I suppose I can give them the benefit of the doubt and hold off any final judgement of the game when it releases. I want to see gameplay footage of the finished product before deciding if I want to buy this or not. But so far news and footage has led me to believe this will be a disaster and I only hope my worries are replaced with confidence for the next decade of Sonic games. I suppose only time will tell, but if this game flops they might want to rethink their strategy, again.
Sounds like 10 years of me not playing 3D Sonic games.
What does that even mean? We’ll get Sonic Frontier and maybe one follow up sonic game using the same engine in a span of 10 years.
Why is this article implying that we will get maybe 10 entries and that it will become an annual release like Pokémon.
They keep over hyping the game. This will all end in tears
||10 more years of mediocrity…||
I have much faith in Sonic Team even so they are trying to do a lot better with their adventure lore in future Sonic games. But, I really don’t want this project go in to bad timing and become a complete disappointment because it will see that that some Sonic fans will lose interest or trust in to Sonic Team because they basically wanted Sonic Frontiers will hit the breaking point for the Sonic franchise. No lie.
I have Zero Confidence in Sonic Team and if it was up to me they all would have been let go Decades ago
Please Nintendo save Sonic from Sega’s mediocrity!!!!
So we’re going to be reusing the same engine ad infinitum again, still stuck in boost gameplay with no rolling physics, literally no difference then
Except maybe slightly fewer 2d sections?