It’s been a pretty strong year for Sega’s long-running Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and, in a recent interview with Japanese gaming outlet Famitsu, Sonic Team member Takashi Iizuka hinted at more to come in 2023. From a popular silver screen sequel early in 2022 to the debut of Sonic Frontiers in November, there’s been quite a bit of quality content for fans of Sonic the Hedgehog to celebrate as of late, but this may just be the tip of the iceberg.
Most of the upcoming Sonic content planned for the next weeks and months will likely come by way of Sonic Frontiers. A Sonic Frontiers content roadmap was revealed back in late November, and it promises three major updates including everything from a photo mode and additional challenge modes to all-new playable characters and story content. Sega has yet to unveil any real specifics about the upcoming Sonic Frontiers content, but the first update is likely to see release in early 2023.
However, there’s much more room for speculation regarding future content beyond Sonic Frontiers. In the interview with Famitsu, Takashi Iizuka was fairly vague, only confirming that Sonic Team is preparing a “second wave” of content to maintain the brand’s momentum over the next 12 months. Many agree that Sonic Frontiers served as a great framework upon which an even better sequel could be built, but, without any solid details, it’s hard to say exactly what Sega and Sonic Team could be cooking up.
An eight-episode season of the animated series Sonic Prime also recently debuted on Netflix, and Sonic Team may find a way to integrate it into Sonic Frontiers or develop the series into a fully-fledged game. There’s certainly precedent for this; the Sonic Boom multimedia franchise spawned two game releases and launched an animated series that premiered more than 100 episodes.
Merchandising is also a huge part of the Sonic the Hedgehog brand. Sonic plushies have already rolled out at Build-A-Bear, and the franchise is set to receive its own line of Squishmallows and LEGO sets in the very near future. It’s not likely that this was the kind of content Takashi Iizuka was hyping up in his interview, but collectibles like these may become a mainstay of the Sonic brand should the character’s current level of popularity be maintained. Whatever the case, Sonic fans have quite a bit to look forward to in 2023, and, hopefully, this can be the beginning of a new era for Sega’s iconic Blue Blur.
Source: Famitsu (via Gematsu)
