Most likely on Sonic's 25th anniversary. Which should give Sonic Team enough time to make a proper game for Xbox One and PS4.
Please, please no more games based off movies/shows based off games. We don't need another Sonic Boom.
But games based on movies based on games always turn out so well! I'm not sure there would be a movie tie-in game. No one really makes them anymore, at least not for consoles, even when the franchise was a video game in the first place. But when has SEGA been renowned for it's good ideas? Maybe the will do one, it'll probably be handed over to a third party and be complete garbage.
Well if it does end up happening, I hope it's the biggest trainwreck of all time. If I'm going to have to sit through this crap, it may as well be the Birdemic of Sonic games. You can do it Sega! You can join the ranks of Bubsy 3D, Superman 64, and E.T. We believe in you :specialed:
I'm going to bet right now we see a Sonic Team console Sonic before the end of the year. Nothing to worry about.
The question is which Sonic Team. I've been told that Sonic Team now consists of two separate teams, one which did Unleashed and Generations, and the other which did Colors and Lost World. That means it's been a year since the Colors/Lost World team released a game, and three years since the Unleashed/Generations team released a game.
No, we must go deeper. Those still hold elements of a game that shockingly some can enjoy on a non-ironic level. Those two games are more akin to the Room. Oh ya it's awful, hilariously so, but yet it could be worse. Birdemic is an abortion. Maybe we should go deeper than the three games I listed before. We need Big Rigs Over the Road Racing. It's like that episode of South Park where James Cameron goes into the depths of the Ocean to raise the bar, only to find that it was so low because Randy Newman was keeping it there.
I don't know what to think about this. Mobile games are usually not a good direction in my opinion; about 80% of them have micro-transactions slapped in your face before you even get your feet on the grounds of the game. If anything, the profits should be used towards development of a new title for consoles, otherwise Sonic Team is heading the ways of Yuji Naka, not that such a thing is too bad...
And it'll be four years by next year's holiday season, which is why I'm 90% sure we're seeing a console title next year, and probably another game from the Colors/Lost World team for the anniversary. I kinda doubt they spent four years working on a mobile game :P I'll be really surprised if Runners is the only Sonic game that releases next year.
The last thing I want is something that horrifically bad. We are at the point where the franchise is in such a state that people have started claiming the series was never any good to begin with, and I read an article today suggesting that Sonic should just stop being in games and stick to cartoons. I'd really like another good Sonic game, more for the sake of the brand than my own enjoyment. I'll always enjoy the classics, but I'm fed up of the series being a complete joke and having the defend my position all the time. While all we really have is a name, I'll try and keep this on topic. I've got an iPhone 4, which is a bit outdated now, but Runners should run fine on my iPad. I'm hoping that I can just pay for the title and enjoy it, something like Super Meat Boy Forever, but I know that SEGA will really want some of that sweet sweet 'freemium' ass. I'd be cool with a F2P version and a paid for 'stop fucking bothering me' version. I'm assuming the name 'Runners' is significant, since they didn't call it 'Sonic Runner'. I'm guessing there's multiple characters, it would be cool if there were differences between them.
I think a 2015 Sonic Team developed Sonic game from the core Generations team is almost certain at this point. We already know it's in development from leaks on this very forum and then we have the unplanned and unintentional image leak last year that indicated Sega have a major mainline Sonic game planned for all three consoles for next year. I only wish that Sega had never entered that disastrous three game deal with Nintendo because not only did the games range from mediocre (Lost World) to catastrophic (Sonic Boom) the games also failed to sell. Not entirely Sega's fault of course. They were constricted and limited by the Wii U's Dreamcast level userbase. Not even Dreamcast level actually. Recalling recent numbers the Wii U stands at ~8 million consoles sold whilst the Dreamcast exited the market at around ~10 million. Regrettably it's highly likely and probable Sega made that deal with Nintendo prior to the Wii U's launch so both Sega and Nintendo probably expected the Wii U to light the world on fire and repeat the success of the Wii. It's just such a shame that however hard Sega tries they just can't seem to catch a break. On a more positive note the three plus years since Generations means it's highly likely a next generation Sonic game has been in development for a very long time. Hopefully this guarantees a certain level of quality. Sonic Team have proven they're still capable of making excellent Sonic games (Colors) with incredible hardware pushing engines (Unleashed/Generations) so I have faith. I think probably like the rest of you I'd love to see the franchise restored to at least some degree of respectability and quality. Especially after the agonising disaster that was Sonic Boom. Hopefully that leak earlier this year was accurate and we'll be playing an awesome Sonic game on Xbox One/PS4 in 2015.
If they're making it for PS4/Xbox One first instead of Xbox 360/PS3/Wii U, I wouldn't expect it to come to Wii U. And it if does, it'll likely be a bad port or a completely different game. I doubt that SEGA would actually bother to do that without making it for Xbox 360/PS3 as well though. Our very own Endri already leaked that Sonic Team has an Xbox One (and likely PS4, I don't see it being Xbox exclusive) game in development anyway. Besides that, that image was debunked by SEGA.
I'd expect it'd be a Sonic Unleashed situation where Xbox One/PS4 gets the main game whilst the Wii U gets the watered down version. As for that image one of Sega's PR representatives stated the image was "incorrect" and therefore not entirely accurate but she didn't provide an outright denial of the game's existence. Hence the validity of Endri leak which I believe to be accurate. It's just a case of timing really. We already know an Xbox One/PS4 Sonic game is in development. We just don't know for definite when it's going to be released. Her response is here and it doesn't sound like an outright denial. Just a PR representative trying to reverse/cover up an unintended game announcement leak.
25th anniversary? I graduate high school in 2016. Jesus. The time really has flown by. ...Anyway, getting back on topic, I agree with the guess that the Unleashed/Generations team will be releasing a game next year, not in 2016. I don't think it takes five years to make a Sonic game (unless they're doing something triple-A-caliber super-special-awesome for the 25th anniversary), and I hope a mobile game isn't the only thing we get for 2015. A series of mobile games (including Sonic 3 & Knux)? That I wouldn't mind; just one game, though, me no likey. Although, a 2D Sonic runner game reminds me of this little gem (that unfortunately crashes on newer versions of iOS): And that is certainly not a bad thing. Throw in more characters, more variety (and maybe graphics) and I'd be down with a standalone version of this. We'll just have to wait a few weeks and see what more is revealed to us. Sonic Team, even though this is just a mobile game and I have no real idea what it is, it's good to have you back. I'll take you over Boom any day.
I'll be perfectly blunt, knowing full well Sega peeps read here. What the hell are you guys doing anymore? I know Boom fell on its face for a ton of reasons, but the way SoA and SoJ are handling the brand is probably the worst level of piledriving a company's flagship brand into the ground I've seen since Capcom with Mega Man. If the company is that desperate to collapse, just announce it already while the brands still have passable resale value. Sonic Boom? A Lost World-based mobile runner? A live-action/ani hybrid movie? Like... Jesus Christ, who can I direct a wiffle bat to in the attempt to maybe get some sort of sanity around here? I know some of you are frustrated with this too so I'm not shooting the messenger, but someone needs a good shot to the head up there and fast.
Wasn't that one 4chan post about Runners being a Lost World based game (as well as mentioning that Sonic's gonna have a game adaptation of a movie) confirmed to be false? It was claiming to be the same person as from before that leaked Runners' existence as well as info about the Boom game, but I thought there was some sort of proof that it wasn't the same guy, like the fact that they didn't really share the same mannerisms. Also, I doubt the next Sonic game would dodge the Wii U whenever coming out for the other consoles as well. Sure, other companies have straight up ditched it but I'm not really expecting Sega to. Especially since the gap between console power of the U compared to the PS4/Xbone isn't nearly as large as it was last generation with the Wii and 360/PS3.
I know Generations was a 20th anniversary game and something of a one time concept, but I liked it because they put actual effort into the level design, not because it had "classic sonic" in it. The 2D classic stages weren't even what impressed me. It was the idea that they FINALLY built proper 3D stages with branching pathways, secrets, and re-playability, in addition to an amazing soundtrack and top notch visuals. And the game glitches were relatively minor. It also finally perfected the Unleashed speed stages. Why? Why can't they just evolve that concept and build off of it? Not the classic Sonic dynamic, just the 2D/3D blend with branching pathways and well polished design? I'm so burned out with this franchise, and I've been a loyalist for far too long. Sonic 1 was my first true game. Couldn't bring myself to even buy either version of Boom.
If this is an endless runner and they don't have some crazy stages themed after the bonus stages in Sonic 2, 3, CD, 3D Blast, or Chaotix I swear to god imma be fuckin' pissed. It's like the perfect theme combination and they'll let it go to waste. And not totally because my super sekeret shitty project is actually called Sonic: Bonus Runner. I want some validation dammit. Chances are they'll repurpose assets where they can from Lost World or Generations. Extra characters will be cash shop material we all know. I'd be surprised if they tried to focus on making a wide variety of stuff to do in an endless runner to make it more like a proper game. Also since the name was spot on to the rumor what else was also said to be rumored?
