The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has truly had some low points through the years. Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka has revealed in a new video interview that at one point SEGA nearly gave up on the franchise believing that it just wasn’t possible to be brought back from the brink of death. Iizuka was asked to move to North America and was specifically tasked with reviving the franchise and today it’s as successful as it’s ever been, perhaps more, thanks to the three movies, Sonic Mania and Sonic Frontiers.
Sonic Team boss says SEGA tasked him with bringing Sonic back from the dead
and he did it
Thanks to the movies and probably Mania and Cross worlds. Frontiers wasn’t even good, people treat it like better than it is just because it was better then Forces which was so bad that I don’t even consider it a finished playable product. Takashi Iizuka has actually been one of the parts of Sonic that I have despised the most, next to when they got the Happy Tree Friends writers to write fir Sonic and Flanderize all of the characters and ruined most of them.
Crossworlds flopped.
Just a note: video games are not products, but works of art
Successful movies.. Now don’t screw up the next mainline games!
And don’t make Rouge or the other female characters purposely woke if they come to the movies. That’s probably not gonna happen though since even the newer series of Animaniacs axed 2 sexualized characters, like completely, nowhere to be seen. Poof.. Gone.
Are these die-hard anti-woke activists really still around in 2026?
Sega management has necessitated that a lot of their assets need saving
It’s dead now partially because of him also Aaron Webber who’s killing Sega as a whole and Ian Flynn.
You can’t be a very good fisherman with weak bait like this.
Then how about making a good game?? Something like SA 1 or 2 and not Frontier…. oh wait, that will never happen and Ian Flynn. Same problem like with the Mario movies.
Sonic has been dead since the last new Dreamcast was purchased in 2006
Well he succeeded with Frontiers and Sonic x Shadow Generations: I just wish he gave us something more substantial for the 35th anniversary
The last good Sonic game was Sonic Heroes and that’s because you could still play as Big the Cat (he’s so big)
It’s been revived as a brand. I think reviving it as a great game series is still a way off. Sonic Mania was wonderful, but in the decade since it’s still been a pretty mixed bag.
At least now they manage to keep the franchise alive for a longtime after that whole Sonic 06 fiasco. Rebranding the entire series is always one thing that comes in mind from fans for years.
they need to be focusing on OTHER sega titles crazy taxi is a start ….sonic has never went anywhere because the fanbase literally will support anything
I wish Sega would come back from the dead.
Well now he, Ian Flynn, and Aaron Webber are killing it again to a point of no return. Now it’s just weirdos that buy and defend Sonic Flynn’s weird fanbase and furries.
Obviously Troll and Hater. Ian Flynn has worked on writing for Frontiers and Shadow X Sonic Generations, he has made Sonic feel like a real character again and Made Shadow actually feel like Shadow again. Sorry that you love the Baldly McNose Hair and “Sonic I fixed the Tornado with laundry detergent and paper clips” Era of writing. He also isn’t in charge of what the story or plot will be in the games. And again, Sonic Comics have been going since 1993 for a reason. Hater
Aaron Webber has been working as Director of Studio & Community Relations at Sega of Japan for years now, he isn’t even involved with the development of Sonic Games. Takashi Iizuka has been the main reason for Sonic’s failure but you don’t actually care about that. You are just a troll that spams nonsense about Aran Webber and Ian Flyyn every day on this site. You need mental help.
It’s most of these Sonic Fans who discovered the series though Sonic X and don’t know anything about the series until they played Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic Spinball on Sonic Mega Collection, Sonic the Fighters, Sonic CD and Sonic R on Sonic Gems Collection, Sonic Adventure and the Game Gear titles tough Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Adventure 2 though Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and that they think the know anything.
TBH the 2003-2008 where not good years for the series because of how crap the story was (with the expiation of Sonic Unleashed and Sonic and the Black Knight to an extent) with Sonic 06 being the worst IMO and the less we talk about Sonic Chronicles the better.
Takashi Iizuka, Ian Flynn, Evan Stanley, Tyson Hesse, Jeff Fowler and Katie Chrzanowski has shown that they care for Sonic more than Sega-ATLUS and Yuji Naka, if these Sonic Fanboys got what they wanted (Sonic Adventure 3) and Yuji Naka, Pontaff, Shiro Maekawa, the 4kids cast came back and Sonic Adventure 3 and added Sally Acorn and the Freedom Fighters, and SA3 gets a 2/10 then the Sonic IP is dead.
I’d rather see Sonic Frontiers 2 be a thing (with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Shadow playable) and keep Ian Flynn, Evan Stanley and Tyson Hesse as part of the Sonic Lore team, it’s sad how these 2000s era Sonic Fanboys have developed what the Classic era Sonic Fanboys (those who worship Sonic Satam/Archie Sonic and only say that Sonic 1, Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and Knuckles are good games) and won’t let go of the past.
Only one I liked in the last 20 years was Sonic Generations, they need to work harder.
It has not been back it’s been dead. I guess 2027 will be the year to shock them all the L’s coming to Sega and Sonic 4 flopping
All if the Sonic Movies have been a huge commercial Success. Without them though, I don’t think Sonic would be very relevant. Mania was amazing but that came and went, Forces is the worst piece of garbage I ever played next to Sticker Star, Frontier’s wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great, superstars was horrible, they messed up Sonic Origins, They destroyed Sonic Colors, like its baaaad, Shadow X Generations didn’t do enough to update the original game though the Shadow levels are the best Sonic Gameplay has been in twenty five years. Sonic Mania could have been even better but they forced Whitehead to use old levels, then the head if Sonic Team got so spiteful over the success that they got rid of Whitehead and brought the people behind Balan WonderWorld to do Superstars.
What makes you so sure that Sonic the Hedgehog 4 will be a flop?
Sonic Chronicles wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t your type of game. The main reason we didn’t get a sequel is due to a piece of s@#& named Ken Penders who also brought a end to the twenty five year running Archie Sonic comics. Ken Penders was recently selling unlicenced merch with Shadow The Hedgehog in them claiming “Well they were my stories.” Sega just lets him do whatever he wants now because they don’t want to deal with his harassment and bs.
I really feel he’s just talking for attention not true.