Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka spoke with IGN about the recently announced PlayStation 5 Pro console and whether it will support the system. Of course, the upcoming Sonic game Sonic x Shadow Generations doesn’t really push any visual boundaries, so there’s little to add from a power perspective over the base PlayStation 5. One interesting thing that came out of the interview is that Sonic Team will continue to develop Sonic games on lower-spec consoles like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, which still have a large audience, plus with the Switch 2 being comparable to the portable PlayStation 4, that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
“As a market, we have top machines, top consoles. Coming out with those consoles, we feel we can make newer Sonic games that can express the speed of Sonic and have a much better user interface for gameplay. However, we want to support lower specification constants as well. So even as the PS5 Pro comes out or new innovations or technology emerges, we feel it’s important to support lower spec consoles and allow many users to continue playing Sonic.”
That includes continued support for the Nintendo Switch, which is expected to get a next-gen update soon, but in the meantime continues to run in its seventh year. Iizuka says Sonic will continue to follow a middle ground between high-end platforms like the PS5 and low-end consoles like the Switch, with the series adding improvements or making compromises where necessary.
“I feel that with the quality that they provide, it’s not that expensive… And yes, it would be really good for high-end gaming users,” says Iizuka.
Tsujimoto is also optimistic about the price. “Price is not something we feel is appropriate to comment on, but in terms of capabilities, we think it is definitely worthy of the Pro name. So we’re excited to see what he can do.”
