Sonic Series Producer Says SEGA Almost Gave Up On New Sonic Games

As the Sonic The Hedgehog series celebrates his 35th anniversary this year, some interesting info has surfaced suggesting that it almost didn’t make it to this milestone.

In an interview shared by GamesRadar, Sonic The Hedgehog series producer Takashi Iizuka revealed there was a time were SEGA almost gave up on making new games in the series. He highlights a particularly low point around 10 years ago, where he was told that if he didn’t head over to America and do something, Sonic was “going to end”.

“There was even a time when SEGA said, ‘You know what? We don’t need you to make any more Sonic games. We’re good. We’re done with Sonic…’ And even ten years ago when I first moved to America, Sonic was really at a low point and they said, ‘Iizuka-san, if you don’t go over to America and don’t start building this up and raising Sonic back up, Sonic is going to end and we’re just going to be done with it.’”

The timeframe would place this moment at around 2016, after the release of the critically panned Sonic Boom games. SEGA would then release Sonic Mania shortly after in 2017, a game which is often touted as bringing new life into the game series. Sonic would then receive another big boost in the form of the live-action film series, although even that could have turned out very different.

Even so, Iizuka credits the support from Sonic’s dedicated fans for why the franchise has managed to last this long, thanking them for all they have done for the past 35 years.

“It’s really thanks to the fans for all of the support we’ve gotten… our fans have been there this entire time supporting us, whether it’s with movies or animation or whatever it is that we’re doing. The fans are there and they’ve been really supportive the past 35 years, so I’d just like to say a big thanks to all of the fans that have been there and continue to be there.”

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.