The next entry in the Sonic franchise, Sonic Frontiers, was originally planned to release in 2021 according to a Sega investor Q&A. As spotted by Sonicstadium, Sonic Frontiers, which is currently slated for a holiday 2022 launch, was delayed “to further brush up the quality.”
“Not only for this title, but during the development phase, we have been steadily conducting analysis to improve the quality of the title before release, such as introducing game testing based on external evaluations, and I have a feeling that it will become a good game and have high expectations for it,” reads a response from Sega in the Q&A.
This isn’t the first time a Sonic game has been delayed to make sure it lives up to expectations; 2016’s Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice was delayed for the same reason.
Sonic Frontiers is also poised to take the franchise in a drastic new direction. The game, which hasn’t had a gameplay reveal yet, appears to be open world, drawing inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The Sega investor Q&A also touched on other parts of Sega’s business strategy going into 2022, including the company’s interest in NFTs. While the company hasn’t committed to anything just yet, Sega is currently trying out “various experiments and we have already started many different studies and considerations but nothing is decided at this point regards P2E (play-to-earn).” Sega even acknowledged that while other studios have announced plans to integrate NFTs into their games, users have shown “negative reactions at this point.” S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developer GSC Game World recently pivoted away from NFTs, ending all plans to put them into the upcoming game quickly after announcing their integration due to fan backlash.
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