Sonic The Hedgehog’s Success “Forged Path” For Upcoming Sega Titles

Sega has recently admitted that the Sonic the Hedgehog series is responsible for allowing devs to pursue legacy IPs. It admitted that the success of the franchise has “forged a path” for inactive IPs and allowed their revival after years of waiting by the fans. The front face of Sega America, Shuji Utsumi, recently iterated in a press release that Sega is digging more into its legacy to reimagine several franchises and develop more titles.

In recent years, Sonic the Hedgehog has forged new paths for SEGA, bringing the franchise to life and reaching new audiences in ways we had only dreamed of in the past. Building off that success, we are digging into our legacy and reimagining several franchises to bring these games to more audiences around the globe,” says the CEO of SEGA of America, Shuji Utsumi.

The revival of many dormant IPs was recently announced by the publisher at The Game Awards 2023 event. It would not have been possible for the giant to invest and develop these titles if the Sonic franchise ended up on a steep descent over the last decade. The announcement ushered in a new dawn for the company, with Shuji confirming that it will “create great games” in the coming years. 

Today’s announcement is just the start of our initiative. First and foremost, our ambition will be to create great games with memorable characters and worlds. We hope fans of all ages will look towards our future with anticipation as we release these projects in the coming years.”

It is not just PR talk to claim that the Sonic series has been triumphant. The IP has now sold over a huge 1.66 billion units worldwide ever since its birth. Sega has also not given up on competing Sonic with Mario, the mascot and popular series of Nintendo, whom we know and love as well. The recent titles have done fairly well, like Sonic Frontiers. However, Sonic Superstars had a slightly weaker start due to intense competition this year. 

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A total of 5 games, including Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Streets Of Rage, Golden Axe, and Crazy Taxi, were confirmed to be in development by Sega. However, there could be more projects that are planned behind the curtains that could be released in the future, as hinted by the new trailer revealed by the company. The exact details for these in-development entries are still up in the air, however. We will likely learn more about them in the near future.