Sonic remakes and reboots are being eyed up by Sega
Sonic shows no signs of slowing down.
In an interview with Famitsu, spotted by the folk over at DualShockers, SEGA has shared that it could have more Sonic the Hedgehog-related reboots and remakes up its sleeves.
The interview was with SEGA president and chief operations officer, Yukio Sugino, and saw him discuss what SEGA has done well as of late, and what it is hoping to do in future with its games. In addition, there was lots of discussion regarding the ever-changing game market, and how SEGA intends on expanding.
At the very beginning of the interview, Sugino is asked what he found most impressive for SEGA during 2022. “First of all, Sonic Frontier,” he responds.
“Led by Utsumi, various projects to make Sonic even bigger have come to fruition. In April last year, the movie Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released in North America, and it got off to a good start there, with worldwide box office revenue of about 570,” Sugino shares.
Sugino continues, “It became a hit that exceeded 100 million yen. With that in mind, we released Sonic Frontier, and were able to sell more units than we had originally planned. I’m happy about that itself, and I’m also happy to hear a lot of messages from North American users saying, “I’m so happy that Sonic is headed in the right direction.””
When it comes to the discussion of reboots and remakes, though, Sugino was first asked about Samba De Amigo, which is headed to the Nintendo Switch on August 29. Sugino claims, “To me, Samba De Amigo: Party Central is not a reboot, but a new series. On the other hand, Sonic Superstars, which was announced the other day, is a return to 2D action.”
Interviewer, Katsuhiko Hayashi, then points out that “Sonic Superstars has a reboot aspect” when compared to the new installment, Sonic Frontiers. Sugino responds, “Of course we have to do new things, but not all IPs are the same for new releases and reboots. For each IP, we will choose which method is appropriate at this time, such as “This method is best for this IP.” Sonic is SEGA’s flagship IP, and we are considering reboots and remakes parallel with new titles.”
And there we have it; Sonic isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and with Sonic’s new adventures, it seems fans can also expect to keep seeing blasts from the pasts alongside any fresh escapades.
Sonic fans have more to look forward to in 2023, too, with Sonic Superstars launching later this year. While we don’t have a release window for Sonic’s return to 2D action just yet, Sugino did share that “the game incorporates quite new elements in terms of gameplay, and you can enjoy it including multiplayer, so please look forward to it.”