Sonic the Hedgehog has always been one of SEGA's most popular franchises, but with a successful new game — and a pair of hit movies — the mascot is in a very healthy position right now. Sonic Frontiers has been doing particularly well for the publisher; as of 31st March 2023, the experimental open zone title has sold over 3.2 million units, becoming a major driver of software sales over the last few months.
Again, thanks to SEGA's increased emphasis on Sonic, the IP is primed for even more activity in the near future. There's Sonic Origins Plus, which expands the retro collection with Game Gear games and more, a third movie still to come, and a spin-off original TV show all about Knuckles on the horizon too. We expect the next major 3D Sonic game is also in the works, presumably building on what Sonic Team achieved with Frontiers.
With all this in the pipeline, it seems we'll be getting a lot more Sonic over the next few years. In fact, SEGA forecasts "record licensing revenue centered on Sonic" over the next fiscal year. The games themselves are all well and good, but it seems as though the publisher sees a lot of value in a multimedia approach — which isn't dissimilar to Sony's plans with all its PlayStation Productions projects.
Anyway, are you excited for Sonic's future? Drop dash into the comments section below.
[source segasammy.co.jp, via sonicstadium.org]
Comments 35
Some of us are old enough to remember when this very site was one of the naysayers of this game. Credit to Sega for exceeding our expectations with how they've handled it all.
Hopefully this finally taught Sonic Team what they needed to re-learn if you make GOOD games people will buy them I'm actually finally optimistic about future Sonic games Frontiers was wonderful and we're finally getting playable Tails and Knuckles back too it's awesome
Credit where it's due. I consider Frontiers to be the first decent Sonic game since the first Adventure game on Dreamcast. 1999-2022 is a large gap of mediocrity for 3D Sonic games. The only good one we got between those years was Mania.
Still not got to frontiers yet, waiting for the dlc to wrap up and then I will dive in. Either way I hope this leads to more 2d adventures (licence the fan remake of triple trouble please!) And increased budgets for the 3d one to actually spend the time they deserve for development
@Uncharted2007 Generations and Colors were both good. Generations is arguably better than the adventure games tbh.
That doesn't sound right. First Sega buys Rovio and now they've had a very successful game from their iconic character? 🤔
But the internet keeps telling me they're struggling and are going to be bought by Microsoft any day now! Impossible!
I'm very glad to hear this positive news from Sega lately. And long may it continue to keep them out of the hands of consolidation.
@Shad361 Generations is absolutely better than the Adventure games. Having a root canal done is better than Adventure 1.
Couldn't care less about Sonic after more than two decades of Sega running him out there with hit-and-mostly miss results time and time again while they've ignored a literal mountain of some of the greatest IPs ever made. 20 years since Skies of Arcadia, 25 since Shining Force III, 30 since the last offline Phantasy Star. So many incredible coin-ops collecting dust instead of being put into a compilation. The Saturn and most of the Dreamcast catalogs continue to go untouched.
Maybe most of those IPs aren't as profitable as Sonic has been, but they're remembered as some of the best the hobby has ever seen and appealed to fans of a wide variety of genres, and by now most would be seeing an entirely new audience anyway. Look at how profitable Fire Emblem has been for Nintendo, for example; Shining Force could absolutely experience the same renaissance if given the chance.
Sega's development teams have made some of the greatest games in the hobby's history, but you wouldn't know it from how their upper management treated them (Team Camelot), their localizations (SF III only getting the first of three interlocking Scenarios released in the West, Panzer Dragoon Saga only seeing 3000 North American releases, most of their Saturn-era RPGs having to be released by Working Designs to come here at all), or their (near complete lack of) marketing. If you read the history of Sega, you'll still love their games, not so much the corporation itself.
Maybe there's another reason Sonic is "one of their best-selling franchises"; it's pretty easy when it's about the only one they bother making or promoting.
Really enjoyed this game and I’m not usually a fan of Sonic games. I’ve always found them a bit repetitive but the open world aspect in Frontiers sets this one apart - with the classic-style Sonic levels not being the main focus. I actually enjoyed these levels more because of it. Just a shame there wasn’t a snowy world but I heard they ran out of money towards the end.
That's 3 million too many. This game is awful lol
Lovely tasty game, just tipped Sonic Colours for being my favourite of the 3D moderns. Although maybe just because of 'that sound' added into Colours Ultimate...
Glad to see Sonic doing good but I'm still fascinated at how people love this game so much. I beat it, boss fights and their music were good, open world was an absolute slog collectathon and the stages aka the most important part of Sonic games imo, had very little effort put in to them.
@JSnow2 it wasn’t a slog to me because of Sonic’s speed. You can travel the entire map in no time which better than walking or riding a horse
@GADG3Tx87 I don’t know why people think Sega is struggling. They own Atlus, Ryu Ga Gotoku, and Sonic.
Sonic may be their popular game. But Yakuza/Like a dragon is my favourite. I also like persona. So these are the only 2 series I like from Sega.
@AverageGamer
That's my point. But people keep saying Sega are struggling and Microsoft should buy them.
To "save them." Usually over on PureXbox. They say often "Sega next after ABK." Those words.
It makes me laugh every time because they're doing well. But people keep wishing for consolidation for bragging rights that just hurts gaming.
Frontier is my absolute favorite Sonic game, so I’m really looking forward to whatever comes next, whether that’s a sequel or DLC. I really hope The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog gets ported to consoles too. Really wonderful little oddity.
Frontiers is one of the best 3D Sonic titles in a long time. If Sega can build on that and take it in the right direction, then I'm very excited for Sonic's future.
@Shad361 that’s arguably not true
@NathanKang this game is liked by a bunch of casuals. it’s really sad and shocking the kind of garbage people will actually settle for . the entire game plays and feels like a low budget unfinished soulless product sprinkled with flashiness with no depth and generic music that doesn’t fit the game, and the levels are horrendous & the open world looks like throwaway templates they got out of square enix trash can
but people eat it up because frontiers is a game that a 3 year old can play blindfolded . the gameplay is very jank & one-dimensional and a continuation of “boost to win” that started with generations
@Kisrah it’s just better than forces , that’s it .
@Markatron84 nope
@nomither6 the thing is I liked the first islands cuz of the open world freedom and boss fight spectacles. But then Island 3 rears it's head and the game's quality takes a dramatic nosedive. That's without talking about the jank too. I really wanted the whole game to be fire but Sonic Team proves (again) they don't know wtf they're doing. And yeah, Sonic diehards are absolutely crazy for this game despite it's very obvious flaws.
@GADG3Tx87 lmao. I guess it based on what you consider struggling.
Sega does make sense for the next purchase, not because they’re financially “struggling”, but because they’re the next logical step. I have personally always the consider the Xbox the spiritual successor of Sega consoles. And if you have looked at the share history of each company… it makes sense.
@AverageGamer
So it makes sense to take games away from other people when a publisher is doing just fine? And for what? Bragging rights?
Microsoft tried to get in good with Sega many years ago after Sony refused to accept Microsoft games on their system during the early years of the PS2 before the first console. They were looking for an entry point.
They had a brief moment with Sega and don't represent any significance in their history that entitles them to own the company just so their fans can brag that other people can't play their games.
It's pathetic quite frankly.
Fortunately, Japan will never let that happen. They're very protective of non Japanese entities taking any historic companies from them. Microsoft entered a partnership with Sega recently and given how the Japanese government feel about outside consolidation that's the best they'll ever get.
Sega make Japan a lot of money not just in video games but in their other ventures aswell, and are more heavily entwined with Nintendo more than anyone else.
@Shad361 Not to mention the handheld entries from GBA to 3DS, which had a mostly consistent streak of being at least decent. Lost World and Shattered Crystal being the main exceptions.
@GADG3Tx87 I agree. I can see the perspective of the original Xbox being a continuation of what the Dreamcast was offering, but that was a long time ago, and things started diverging massively once the 360 came out. In 2023, Xbox and Sega aren't really that connected other than Sega releasing their titles on the platform.
@GADG3Tx87 “ So it makes sense to take games away from other people when a publisher is doing just fine? And for what? Bragging rights?”
I think you miss understanding my point
But No. Not from the sense of taking games away from other people. From the sense if Microsoft was going to purchase another publisher. Sega is only next logical choice. Buying either EA, Square Enix, Take two, or Konami makes no sense. These companies offer nothing useful or have any type of history with Microsoft. It doesn’t matter if their history happened 20 years ago. Sega also cares more about taking Microsoft money considering they was fine turning their back on long term Yakuza PlayStation fans and making the next generation of Like a dragon exclusive to Xbox. Sega also had a large presence on PC with owning studios like Creative Assembly (developers of Halo Wars 2) , Relic, and Amplitude.
@nomither6 Nothing in frontiers annoyed me as much as most of the treasure hunting stages in SA2 or the fishing in SA1. And Frontiers is not “boost to win at all”,the boost is not as fast in the cyberspace levels as in generations and the level design is not as narrow as generations.
@Shad361 super disagree but ok dude.
@crazykcarter what about the people that do like the game with the same response when anything frontiers is posted , do they sound like a broken record too
@Uncharted2007 cmon? sonic rush, heroes, all 3 advance games, gens, colours, are all good games. and adventure 2 is good too.
@AtlanteanMan sonic is far and away not the only game sega has been promoting for a long time. Banana mania, streets of rage 4, the new samba de amigo, yakuza, phantasy star online 2, sakura wars. like, really. there's also rumours of a new jet set radio. sega does a lot more than just sonic these days.
@nosoupforyou I'll give you the Advance games but not the others. Adventure 2 was tolerable but not as good as the first. Heroes fell further. I'll remind everyone, it's ok to not agree and have differing opinions.
@Uncharted2007 Adventure 2's issues lie in that it divides what people want from sonic. that doesn't inherently make the treasure hunting and mech shooting bad. games like 06, control badly and screw up the level design in so many ways. sa2 is really well designed for the most part.
and yeah i agree, its ok to have different opinions. but the point of these discussion spaces is to argue opinions, is it not?
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