The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has had plenty of low points over the years with Sonic Team and SEGA releasing some unfortunate games in the past like Sonic 2006, Sonic Boom, and numerous others. The fact is that Sonic Team failed to bring Sonic successfully into the 3D platforming space, while Nintendo’s Mario soared in his own 3D adventures. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka, says that ten years ago he ultimately came to the realisation that the Sonic brand simply needed saving. Since then we’ve had a successful live-action Sonic movies, the excellent Sonic Mania and the promising but flawed, Sonic Frontiers.
“Ten years ago, I moved from Tokyo to Burbank. At that time, the Sonic brand was not in a very positive space. A lot of people were bashing on the brand. They really weren’t happy with the things coming out,” Iizuka recalls.
“When I moved over from Tokyo to Los Angeles, it was like an ‘oh my god’ moment,” Iizuka admits. “Like, we need to save the brand, or this brand isn’t going to be around for much longer.”
