Sonic Frontiers Was Originally Going To Release In 2021 For The Series’ 30th Anniversary

With the first Sonic game released in 1991, last year was the franchise’s 30th anniversary, and Sega celebrated by releasing Sonic Colors: Ultimate Edition, new Funko pops, wearable chains, and more. Game InformerEven spoke with Takashi Iizuka (head of Sonic Team, long-time series director, designer and producer) about the anniversary. Now, thanks to a new Q&A segment during an investor call, we know the team initially had even more planned for the 30th anniversary. 

Report first by Sonic Stadium, Sonic Frontiers was planned as a 2021 release to coincide with the blue blur’s birthday celebration, but in the end, the team needed more time on the upcoming open-zone game. 

“Originally it was planned to be released on this year, the 30th anniversary of Sonic, but we have postponed the release for a year in order to further brush up the quality,” Sega said during the investor meeting, according to Sonic Stadium. “Not only for this title, but during the development phase, we have been steadily conducting analysis to improve the quality of the title before release, such as introducing game testing based on external evaluations, and I have a feeling that it will become a good game and have high expectations for it.” 

Other parts of the call Sonic Stadium reports that Sonic Team and Sega are looking at Sonic Frontiers as the big new future for the franchise, especially in terms of it being a full release rather than a discounted title like its recent rerelease of Sonic Colors.

“For the pricing strategy, we feel that we are at a point where we need to rethink,” Sega said during the call. “For example, for the new Sonic game, as we are focusing on quality and spending certain amount[s]Spend money [the]Development, We believe it important to keep the price at the same time as maintaining the value and the intellectual property. [a]It is important to maintain a high standard of service, and not lower the cost. [an] early stage to increase the number of unit sales.” 

Sonic Frontiers last appeared at The Game Awards in 2021. That was when we saw a trailer that showed a more detailed look at Sonic Frontiers’ open-world or “open-zone” aspect. Sonic Frontiers was announced at the Game Awards 2021. You can read more about Sonic Colors: Ultimate while you wait to find out more. 

[Source: Sonic Stadium]

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