[360]

So with all the negativity surrounding Sega and their recent restructuring plans resulting in the scaling back of their console operations I thought this was thread worthy because for once it's actually some good news regarding the future of the Sonic franchise. Takashi Iizuka was interviewed recently presumably for the recent release of Sonic Runners and was asked directly about the future of Sonic games on consoles. The interview was with 4gamer and is in Japanese but we have a translation of the key question he was asked courtesy of Woun:

Quote

4Gamer:
Actually is there a possibility that the future of Sonic the Hedgehog is going to shift to smart phones/mobile?

Iizuka-san:
Currently we don't [have that plan and intention]. Now for this product only we selected the smart phone/mobile as a friendly platform for the users [of this game] because [the game is] F2P and therefore it was suitable for there. Personally I don't plan to stop Sonic for home video game consoles. Don't worry about them! And enjoy!

I cleaned up the translation somewhat to add clarification. You can see Woun's original translation on either SSMB or the site that we're not supposed to link to as there is a recent news post on there. The general gist however is an outright refutation to the idea that Sonic will only appear on mobile from now on and that Sonic games for home consoles will continue in the near and distant future. So as I said actual good news for once. I want to thank Woun for the original translation and TimmiT for pointing this out to me just now via posting it on NeoGAF.

So finally some good news. Sonic on consoles will continue. A collective sigh of relief?

[Jimmy Hedgehog]

To be honest I don't think there was any reason to believe Sonic would stop being on consoles, but that's just me.

[ICEknight]

I don't they'll ever consider not making Sonic games for consoles...

[360]

Yeah but even so given the Sega news last month there was still an element of doubt. Sega's console releases are mostly ending for all of their franchises so there was reason to believe Sonic may have been affected. Particularly with Sonic Team being shifted to Sonic Runners and Sonic Boom's catastrophic failure both critically and commercially. Just thought it was reassuring news to hear that the next Sonic game for consoles (along with all other potential future Sonic games) will be completely and assuredly unaffected by the changes within Sega especially given this is coming from the man who controls Sonic now and occupies such a high-level position in Sonic Team.

[TimmiT]

Jimmy Hedgehog, on 28 February 2015 - 11:53 AM, said:

To be honest I don't think there was any reason to believe Sonic would stop being on consoles, but that's just me.

Yeah, I only linked it there cause of there seems to be some confusion on if SEGA is going mobile/PC only or not.

[Herm the Germ]

TimmiT, on 28 February 2015 - 12:42 PM, said:

Jimmy Hedgehog, on 28 February 2015 - 11:53 AM, said:

To be honest I don't think there was any reason to believe Sonic would stop being on consoles, but that's just me.

Yeah, I only linked it there cause of there seems to be some confusion on if SEGA is going mobile/PC only or not.

You mean, despite them having already pretty explicitly stated that they would not go that route exclusively??

[TimmiT]

Herm the Germ, on 28 February 2015 - 12:59 PM, said:

TimmiT, on 28 February 2015 - 12:42 PM, said:

Jimmy Hedgehog, on 28 February 2015 - 11:53 AM, said:

To be honest I don't think there was any reason to believe Sonic would stop being on consoles, but that's just me.

Yeah, I only linked it there cause of there seems to be some confusion on if SEGA is going mobile/PC only or not.

You mean, despite them having already pretty explicitly stated that they would not go that route exclusively??

Well yeah, this is GAF we're talking about here.

[Donnie Paradox]

I always figured that they wouldn't abandon consoles for Sonic. It wouldn't be a good business decision at all. At least now we know for sure.

[AngelComa]

Sonic Generation is still one of the top 100 games sold in Europe every year. Why would you shut down other platforms? There was never any hint of them doing this at all, only a bunch of clickbait articles online.

Oh, people freaked out over nothing. Nothing new.

[Dr. Corndog]

The rumor never bothered me because part of the focus was said to be on PCs, and that just got lost in the talk about mobile games. But I never expected them to give up on consoles, anyway.

[Dark Sonic]

Donnie Paradox, on 28 February 2015 - 07:34 PM, said:

I always figured that they wouldn't abandon consoles for Sonic. It wouldn't be a good business decision at all. At least now we know for sure.

>Sega
>Good business decisions

Pick one.

[.Luke]

Sonic sells too well for them to back out of making more physical releases, although most news had me thinking they were going to stop this too. Good to know any potential of a great Sonic release on the PS4 can still happen, as well as the chances of Sonic classic remasters coming to consoles.

Dark Sonic, on 28 February 2015 - 09:09 PM, said:

Donnie Paradox, on 28 February 2015 - 07:34 PM, said:

I always figured that they wouldn't abandon consoles for Sonic. It wouldn't be a good business decision at all. At least now we know for sure.

>Sega
>Good business decisions

Pick one.

Not to also mention that when one branch of Sega wants to make a good decision, the other won't let them. *bricked*

[AngelComa]

All SEGA said was that SEGA America was working on digital titles, unless I misread the financial report? Though mainstream media failed reporting the truths and focused on creating better clickbait articles.

[Donnie Paradox]

True. I just never saw anything that said they were planning to stop making console games altogether. There just wasn't enough evidence to really reach a conclusion.

[Josh]

I would rather take a godawful Sonic game every year than not have the franchise at all. So long as there are Sonic games, we still have a chance of getting another quality renaissance, as in 2008-2011. Basically one Sonic Generations outweighs every bad game out there, for me.