SEGA’s new Brand Director for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise David Corless has spoken out to MCV about his visions for the franchise, current marketing strategies and pleasing Sonic fans, new and old. With the 3 titles on the way in the next couple of months, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Colours, Corless feels that Sonic Team has performed well.
“Sonic Team has done an amazing job,” says Sonic’s new brand director David Corless, who took the role this summer. “They have gone back to the original games for inspiration and come back with three games that, so far, we’ve only had positive feedback on.”
Corless goes on to speak about SEGA’s strategy of appealing to the core Sonic fans, while also trying to attract the mainstream audience, something we’ve heard Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka speak about many times before. Corless feels that pleasing the core Sonic fans isn’t too hard, but pleasing both those fans and new ones is a tough job.
“I don’t think Sonic fans are hard to please. There is just a lot of them and they are all hugely passionate and have their own ideas on what the ideal Sonic game should be,” continues Corless.
“The core fans are very vocal and get a lot of attention but we also have a huge, younger fanbase that we need to consider too. So it presents a challenge. It’s hard to please everyone.
Corless wants to assure fans that he and SEGA respect Sonic’s heritage and want to create games that live up to that heritage, while also taking the series forward.
“We want to create games that respect the heritage of the brand whilst also moving it forward.”
Where does our new Brand Director see Sonic in the future?
“Daft Punk put it well – better, faster, stronger,” concludes Corless.
For the full article, head over to MCV.
What do you think of David Corless’s statements? Let us know in the comments.
Good God, he looks just like one of my Games Dev. tutors! o_0
Anyway, I wish him Good Luck. He’s gonna need it.
Liar liar pants on fire!
You forgot Harder!
“I don’t think Sonic fans are hard to please.”
Has he actually gone into the territories where fans lurk? It’s an incredibly divided fan base and regardless of what happens there’s always going to be one group now who’ll be displeased.
“Has he actually gone into the territories where fans lurk? It’s an incredibly divided fan base and regardless of what happens there’s always going to be one group now who’ll be displeased.”
Sad but so so true. It doesn’t matter what kind of Sonic game Sega/Sonic Team decides to make, there will always be that group of unhappy fans who will still hate it.
@moko
I agree that there will always be one group that will be unpleasable. However, I don’t really think the MAJORITY of fans are unpleasable. Sonic Team just have to refrain from very stupid ideas (yes, I’m looking at you, Sonic and the Black Knight) and try to put more development time in their games.
@moko
Actually, that’s kind of just what he said. Fans themselves are not hard to please, it’s just that there are so many of them that, as he and others have pointed out, pleasing literally every one of them at the same time is hard. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to try.
“They have gone back to the original games for inspiration and come back with three games that, so far, we’ve only had positive feedback on.”
That’s the best example of ignorant back-patting I’ve ever seen. Ignore any and all complaints and criticism and what’ve you got left?
Nothin’ but smooth sailing BD
Sigh.
That’s why they make these different branches of the franchise.
When he says that he doesn’t think Sonic fans are hard to please, I think he is referring to the specific fans such as myself who automatically absorb everything that Sonic shows up in. Example, Sonic Underground- Good show? I don’t know, but I still recorded every episode and listen to the soundtrack just because its Sonic. Black Knight? Good game? Can’t tell you, but I’ve played it for hours, just loving it to death because of Sonic. etc. etc. etc. I’m easy to please, just throw Sonic in something and I’m happy.
I agree with the man and with the only positive response he meant the actual previews, which praise this game to all heavens.
I really am looking forward to how Sega is handling their blue blur now.
@Eggman123
Praise THIS game? He’s talking about three different games, and I have seen and heard negative comments about all three from “official” sources.
@ChaoticFox
Uhhh.. really? What did they say about Sonic Colors? The closest thing to negative I’ve heard about that game was the multiplayer requiring effort. XD
@Chaoticfox Who?
Yeah I would like to know too cause I haven’t heard any major negative complaints about Colors and the game is mostly receiving positive comments so far but I’ve heard a lot of negative comments about Sonic 4 (ever since the game is first announced actually). I don’t keep up with news on Sonic Free Riders so I don’t know about that one…
Why is ‘core fans’ always associated with ‘older fans,’ and ‘new fans’ are always associated with ‘young fans’? I’m 18 and happen to be a bigger fan of modern Sonic than classic Sonic. SEGA needs to stop assuming all the 3D fans are young and all the 2D fans are older.
I’m an older fan and I like both the modern and classic Sonics. 😛
Exactly. Both young fans and older fans like both classic titles and modern titles. The generalizations are annoying. :/
@Sonfan, Ax, & Blue Chaos
I’m not saying that any of those sources are saying OMG THESE ARE BAD GAMES, I’m just saying there have been SOME concerns, criticisms, and complaints about every one of those games (there always are), and saying “WE HAVE 100% POSITIVE FEEDBACK FROM EVERYONE” is total bullshit.
I don’t memorize who says what about what, and I don’t have a bunch of links on hand to prove my point, but even if only ONE bad thing has been said about ONE of those three games from literally ANY source, official or not, that still makes his statement completely untrue.
well, the thing is, it’s now about finding a way to both please ‘younger’ and ‘old-school’ fans… it’s about refining your craft in a way that everyone will enjoy! and the ‘young’ fans will appreciate an actually “good” game, the same as any other fan…
they’re busy trying to change themselves and Sonic to please people but they need to just, pardon my after-school special-ness…. be themselves.
think about the Idea you had in the beginning, the core of what made Sonic appealing, and refine it to be something that’s fun whether your 8 or 80….
To be perfectly honest, a single fan’s opinion is of equal value to Nintendo Power or any major review site, especially when the above quote didn’t make the distinction between “official previews” and feedback in general.
I honestly don’t know or remember where I read what about each individual game, and I’m not gonna look it up just to satisfy you guys. The point is, there is no way in hell that statement can be true without very specific clarification (that has not yet been given) on what kind of extremely selective distinction counts as “official” feedback.
@Moko
My thoughts exactly when I read this news article. I think he’s a little disillusioned in his conception and how he’s representing what he feels is the current state of Sonic games… And I still consider 18 years old the younger generation of fans!
The only thing I noticed he’s a fan of Daft Punk! XD
@ChaoticFox
I think you’re taking his words a little too literally. When he says “We’ve only had positive feedback”, he means “The majority of our feedback has been positive, or at least average, and we’re okay with that”. People focus on the positives and use those to rouse people into feeling good about something. You don’t say “So a lot of our feedback has been positive, but some people said that this particular thing is no good, but too bad for them because it’s staying”, that would be bad for business!
Anyway, I’m liking all of these games right now, so I’d say this guy’s doing a great job. So far.
Looks like the dude from Spy Kids… O.o
Words, words, words. I want action. Demonstrate your awesomeness and clean up SEGA’s shit.
@Shadrow.
Perhaps I am being too literal. But a simple “mostly” or “majority of” couldn’t have hurt. Especially with the company’s reputation for ignoring negative feedback, or selectively choosing which aspects of it to actually acknowledge. A statement like that, no matter how casual or generalized it was meant to be, just touches a nerve and it brings up some cause for concern.