SEGA president Shuji Utsumi said in a recent interview that he felt that Sonic Superstars had turned out to be a disappointment for the company and had not lived up to its expectations. However, he says he's extremely pleased with Sonic x Shadow Generations because it turned out not only to be an excellent game, but also to have good reviews from the gaming press and gamers alike. He then went on to say that 2025 will be the “next level” for the long-running franchise.
When Nintendo releases a major Mario game, it's a big event. One only comes out every five years. There's always a new theme, but it's still basically 'Mario'. At one point, there were so many Sonic games coming out that it seemed like there was no quality control. I felt like a fiscal liability. What are you doing to increase the quality level of Sonic games?
Utsumi: That's a very good question. We were trying to do something creative with Sonic Frontiers. With Sonic Superstars, it turned out to be a disappointment, in terms of the results compared to what we delivered. This time we have Sonic X Shadow Generations and the next Sonic movie, so we're pushing things in a transmedia direction – movies and games working in harmony to make things bigger. But the core [of the experience] is a game. The game has to be very good otherwise there is no transmedia effect.
The game Sonic X Shadow Generations is actually very good, I would say great, as far as the action is concerned. But starting next year, it's going to be next level, as you're about to see at TGA.
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