Out of curiosity, how dire of a financial situation is Sega in at this point? It feels like a desperation move to delegate one of their few major dev teams, even if it's just a segment, to a mobile game when they've farmed it out in the past.
Hmmm... what if Sonic Team managed to port Hedgehog Engine to iOS using METAL, and they're just demoing it in the form of a game product?
Not to mention Sega would have to be absolutely boneheaded to make the same mistake they made with Sonic Boom a mere 2 years later. As for Sega's finances... well, they bought Atlus, right? I mean, they're doing better than Capcom, at least.
Not sure how making a mobile game is supposed to be some sort of desperate financial move. I'm not sure if SEGA's current financial situation is bad or not though.
The Adventure-era designs haven't been used in a Sonic game since 2000. As indifferent as I am to either Classic or Modern Sonic's design, the idea that the American side of Sega(?) are the ones who dislike the classic designs surprises me; I would have expected that it would be the Japanese side (Possibly Iizuka, as I've heard that he tends to downplay the legacy of the classic trilogy in comparison to what followed). Though considering the Generations classic models are based on the Japanese designs and not the American ones, I suppose it makes more sense the more I think about it.
I don't think the American's have enough power to say what design matters or not. It makes sense for Iizuka to want the modern design since Adventure was the first one he directed (not including R), and his favourite in the series.
*2001. And I meant the term "Adventure-era Sonic" as a general term for the design that has been used since that game that permanently re-branded the series with it. There may be slight differences throughout the model/artwork of that design with each succeeding game released since then, but the core elements of the Adventure design have been used for each game since 1998 (barring the Riders redesign and the Boom sub-series, of course).
Regarding this, there's one thing they took from the American design. Take a look at Classic Sonic's ear shape.
Hmm. Feeling cautious about this (obviously). Going to wait until more info is revealed before I comment further. On a side note: Moving forward I'd like to see a new visual identity. With the original Sonic The Hedgehog we saw pseudo 3D stuff been experimented with, which was really unique. I'd love to see this taken to the next level. Something gamers & kids have never seen before. I'd imagine that with some blurring/perspective/colouring tricks that an awesome 3D effect could be possible? Something to think about. First post. Been a lurker for years, feels good to be posting and joining in. Hi everyone!
Sorry guys been super busy lately so only just catching up with this thread now. Regarding the above 4chan rumour yeah that's obviously a complete fake. The logo is fake and the "leaked" information makes no sense whatsoever. Sonic Team working on the Sony movie game? That is highly likely to be outsourced much like Sonic Boom if it's even happening at all. As for Sonic Team working on another Nintendo exclusive Sonic game for Nintendo again that makes no sense because all Sega has tried to do since the Wii U bombed and Lost World/Sonic Boom failed to sell is try to get out of that deal (hence the outsourcing of the third game to Big Red Button). Why would Sega produce another Sonic bomb that is destined to fail on Nintendo platforms when their exclusivity agreement is complete? The next Sonic game is almost certainly coming out for next/current generation platforms. If the Wii U gets anything it'll be a watered down port. And as for Sega's current financial situation as some of you have speculated about the answer to that is quite complicated. Sega is broke. Hence the reliance on Sonic/Aliens and their core "four" franchises they announced a while back as part of their downsizing and restructuring. Their parent company however Sega Sammy Holdings is absolutely not broke and financially quite healthy hence the very expensive multi-million dollar acquisition of Relic which almost assuredly came from Sega's cash rich parent company. Basically Sega's consumer division is in the same terrible financial state it has been in for more than a decade, but Sega financially is still more or less invincible because Sega Sammy Holdings is still doing quite well via pachinko and to a lesser extent arcades (which is primarily why Sammy took them over in the first place; they were never really interested in Sega's consumer division hence why Sega's boxed retail releases have steadily declined since the acquisition). So getting back on track Sonic Team are producing Sonic Runners because mobile has been phenomenally successful for Sega and they're desperate for any success they can achieve. Sonic Dash cost like nothing to make and was immensely popular, generating tonnes of money for what it was. Sonic Runners is just Sega realising that and trying to strike gold again. Mobile/tablet gaming is only going to increase in importance as time goes on. Sega is obviously realising that. As far as we know via genuine leaks from Sega itself and Endri on here Sonic Team have a 2015 game planned for Xbox One/PS4. Now that Sonic Boom has faded away maybe we'll hear something about it soon. Also Sonic's anniversary is coming up in 2016 so it'll be interesting to see Sonic Team's plans for that too.
I'm still convinced that this new Sonic game for Xbox One/PS4 won't be released until Sonic's 25th anniversary in 2016. Next-gen games like these can't be made in just one year (in Sonic Team's case, sometimes even TWO years ain't enough). Remember Sonic '06? When did that game's development actually started?
That makes understanding their financial situation so much easier. I know it's a fact that the pachinko (while it's been dying down just a touch) is an immense cash cow in Japan. But if that was the case, why did Sega have to close down so many branches and restructure what they have? This clears up so much. Thank you. EDIT: Sonic 06 was actually developed in less than a year; Shadow was the same. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's true.) Also as far as we know, the Unleashed/Generations team last worked on just that, Generations, three years ago (four in November). Unleashed had a three-year development cycle. Historically it took developers a much longer time to work on PS3/360 games because it was the first generation with multi-core processors as well as HD graphics and most devs were taken aback by the resources and time that suddenly had to be put in (Nintendo experienced this shock with the Wii U as well). Now that everyone has been over that initial shell shock for almost eight years, I doubt it would take much longer than 3-4 years for Sonic Team to release a Hedgehog Engine Sonic game, whether it's Modern gameplay or not.
From what I've read, Sonic '06's development started no later than before June 2005 (before that E3 trailer), so it's at least 18 months. As for Shadow, didn't Sega Studio USA start developing the game right after Heroes? That'd be actually almost two years of development. And are you saying the Unleashed/Generations team didn't work on Sonic Lost World? If so, then remind who exactly made it, if not them. Also, Unleashed couldn't possibly have more than two years of development because they started making it AFTER Sonic '06.
There's good proof here that it was (mostly) the Colors team. While both teams very likely share people that come and go as they're needed (say artists or designers in certain phases, etc.), there's a very clear and trained workflow for each team, and it would be a waste of time to train different people to use different middleware constantly.
Huh. Interesting. Okay, now I see where you're going with this, JaredAFX. So basically there are supposedly two different teams within Sonic Team: one that makes next-gen games for Sony and Microsoft, and one that makes Nintendo alternatives. And judging from that POV, yeah, you're right. The Nintendo team after the Storybook series and Colors made Lost World, while the next-gen Sony/Microsoft team after '06, Unleashed and Generations made... nothing. This also means that whatever they've been working on, they've had even more development time for it than ever. Four years! (Five, if they decide to push it for 25th anniversary.)
Part of the reason for the introduction of a third branch of Sonic games done by a third party was so that Sega's internal teams would have more time to work on their own Sonic games. I'm sure they've got something new coming in Novemberish, worked on by the Generations guys.
Like I said earlier in this thread: last year Endri leaked that Sonic Team has an Xbox One game in development, which is likely for PS4 as well. Not like it's hard to come to the conclusion that they're making one, but there you go.
One more thing. Which team was responsible for the Sonic Riders series (specifically Sonic Free Riders)? From what I know, they're also part of the Sonic Team, aren't they?
From our handy-dandy wiki: Sonic Riders, while technically developed by "Sonic Team", actually comes from the part of Sonic Team that used to be United Game Artists, who developed Space Channel 5 (the game Ulala comes from), and Rez along with Feel the Magic: XY/XX, and The Rub Rabbits!. United Game Artists eventually merged with Sonic Team.
