Everyone knows: Sonic the Hedgehog will not have celebrated his 30th birthday in due time. And yet, SEGA had not forgotten it: the plans simply changed.
After a first spring teasing, SEGA therefore formalized the arrival of an anniversary episode to celebrate the 30 years of its supersonic mascot: a time referred to as Sonic Rangers, Sonic Frontiers took advantage of the Game Awards 2021 ceremony to unveil his real name, and its late release, in 2022. And too bad for the little party.
Sonic will talk to you, but not right away
And yet, the ex-manufacturer would have been well aware of the calendar incumbent on him, as revealed by the report of the question / answer session organized by SEGA just after the awards ceremony, and recently published. Reading the document allows you to discover black and white that Sonic Frontiers has like so many other titles is the subject of a report:
Originally, Sonic Frontiers was slated for release in 2021, for Sonic’s 30th anniversary, but we have postponed the release for a year to further improve its quality. During the development phase, we regularly carried out analyzes to improve the quality of the game before its release, such as game tests based on external ratings, and we have a feeling that it will become a good game.
Players who are used to reading between the lines will therefore have understood that the first feedback on the next Sonic in the open world would not have been the most convincing, and SEGA would therefore have been forced to review its copy. Remember that this new episode will be the first in the open world, and that the challenge promises to be gigantic for SEGA.
31 years old, the beautiful age
This is because beyond marking the 30 years of the license, Sonic Frontiers could even mark the start of a new pricing policy, which SEGA would borrow directly from Nintendo and its fixed price policy:
As for the price, we’re at a point where we need to rethink things. For example, for the new Sonic, we focus on quality and have invested a certain amount of money in development, and we think it’s important to keep the price down by keeping the license value high, rather than dropping the price quickly to increase the number of unit sales.
Unlike most third-party publishers, SEGA would therefore be ready to change its mind and sell its game full, hoping that the quality will be sufficient to win this daring bet. We almost wanted to wish them luck, hey.
Sonic Frontiers is now expected for the end of 2022 on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series.
Could SEGA win its bet? What do you expect from Sonic Frontiers? Let us know your supersonic thoughts in the comments below.