After many leaks and rumours, Sega finally fully unveiled the next mainline entry in the Sonic series last month. Later this year, Sonic Frontiers will be looking to completely redefine the series as it takes its trademark style into an open world setting- but if things had gone a little differently, we may already have been playing the game.
Speaking recently during a Q&A with investors, Sega explained that Sonic Frontiers was originally targeting a 2021 launch to coincide with the series’ 30th anniversary, but got delayed when the company decided to push it back for further polishing and extra development time, especially based on additional playtesting and changes being made based on that.
“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. “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.”
Interestingly, Sega has also said that it expects Sonic Frontiers to exceed the first year sales of the last mainline game in the series, Sonic Forces. Where lifetime sales are concerned, the company is “look[ing] forward to further increase.”
Sonic Frontiers will launch Holiday 2022 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
