It goes without saying that Sonic the Hedgehog has had a bit of a rocky history, in terms of quality. Few major franchises have been as inconsistent with its games as the one starring Sega’s speedy mascot. For every Sonic the Hedgehog 2, there is a Sonic 06. Sega knows this, and it wants to change that.
The last few years have been pretty unusual for Sonic. Three years have passed since the last main Sonic game, Sonic Forces, was released, and fans are still waiting for an announcement of a new game. This period of radio silence is the longest the series has ever seen, but according to social media manager Aaron Webber, that’s due to Sega deciding to take its time with the next game ahead of the franchise’s 30th anniversary next year.
In a livestream on the official Sonic YouTube channel, Webber acknowledged how the yearly release schedule for earlier games often resulted in rushed development cycles, resulting in games fans would prefer to forget. “And so, a couple of years ago we actually said, 'Hey, that’s gonna change, we’re gonna put more time into things,’” he said.
“And that’s gonna mean that you have to wait longer between trailers and announcements and stuff like that, and we know that’s kinda annoying sometimes. We’re really excited for what’s to come, but we can’t say anything. So, thank you for being patient, and as soon we have news to share with you, we’ll share it with you.”
Indeed, the wait can be frustrating, but luckily, fans have had plenty of other things to tide them over while they wait for the next mainline Sonic the Hedgehog game, including spinoff titles like Team Sonic Racing and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the official comic book series from IDW Publishing, and, of course, the highly popular Sonic movie.
As for when they might finally get news on the next main game, that still remains a mystery, but it’s possible that it might be coming soon. Sega is one of the companies that will be making announcements during the New Game+ Expo digital event taking place next month, and considering Sega was planning to make a Sonic-related announcement at SXSW before that event was cancelled, there’s a good chance that it could be made at New Game+ Expo instead.