About a month ago, we posted news about License Global doing a ‘salute to Sonic’ in their upcoming May issue… well.. that issue is now out, and there is a rather large article with contributions from Ivo Gerscovich, chief brand officer, Sonic the Hedgehog, and senior vice president, SEGA of America & Kristen B. Zimmer retail licensing manager, SEGA
of America.
Now, lets get the big question out of the way, they do not announce a new game, and more interestingly, there is absolutely no hint at a new game even mentioned. They don’t even say “With a new game in 2016” or anything to suggest a 2016 game release other than Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, however, there are one or two other new bits of information which some of you will find very exciting.
First one, is a huge detail which was previously unknown. There is going to be some kind of Sonic announcement/event at this years E3.
SEGA has a lineup of events planned for the Beloved
Blur Blur’s anniversary that started with a Twitch panel
at SXSW and will be followed by events at PAX, E3, San
Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con and a 25th
anniversary party at the House of Blues in San Diego.
And now the easy to read list version of that…
- SXSW
- PAX (doesn’t specify which one).
- E3
- San Diego Comic-Con.
- New York Comic-Con.
- House of Blues 25th Anniversary Party.
Continuing the talk of Sonic themed events, Gerscovich comments directly on the house of blues party and states that alongside celebrity guests, there will also be “Surprise Announcements.”
Moving away from events talk. The official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel will be re-launched with the creation of short-form content, animated shorts and brand influencer integration “The space will become a big initiative for SEGA moving forward”.
There is also to be an official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitch channel which will be used to for regular gaming-specific uses and live streaming of events. This might have just confirmed live streaming of the above and future events.
Merchandise was also mentioned, including a few new items which were previously unknown, first of all, there will be a range of Sonic Jewellery, from Love & Madness & Han Cholo, Mishka for street style fashion, Concept One for headwear and cold weather products and Vandor for accessories.
Other items were quoted as follows.
We’re looking at back-to-school, stationery, games and puzzles, housewares, sporting foods, food and health and beauty aids.
Beauty aids is likely a reference to this announcement.
Other brands & licensing deals were Drop Dead for adult apparel, Iron Gut for a range of limited edition prints and a direct-to-retail deal with Forbidden Planet. OTL for electronics, PMS for gifts and accessories and Smith and Brooks for apparel in Sports Direct stores for the U.K.
For the United States, Journeys Kidz will be ‘taken over’ by the Sonic brand, Amazon & Toys R Us will also see their web presence ‘taken over’ by Sonic later in the year.
Now something really exciting, you may remember how a few weeks ago there was a strong hint dropped that Sega were looking to bring Sonic into theme parks? Well we can now reveal that, yes they are indeed looking into Sonic theme park attractions! The article mentions that Sega is looking into Sonic theme park attractions and Gerscovich out rightly states that “The [Sonic] brand is a perfect fit for theme park partnerships,” Given their history with Alton Towers, this is not that hard to believe it will become a reality.
And finally, I lied earlier, the 2016 game was mentioned… here is the full quote.
“Mario and Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games” for Nintendo’s 3DS, and a WiiU game will debut in June. SEGA will follow with the debut of “Sonic Boom Fire and Ice” for Nintendo 3DS this fall.
Basically, according to this article, there is no ‘new’ game for 2016, it’s just the Olympic title and Fire & Ice. Don’t you believe it. It’s just because it hasn’t been announced yet, in case you haven’t noticed, Sega have been very tight lipped about new games lately.
My take on that quote is as follows.
Have Sega announced a ‘2016’ new game? No.
Did they tell License Global about a new game? No.
Their quote is accurate. They were not told about a new game, so their quote is accurate based on what information they have. Goes back to Sega being very careful this year with what and when they say/reveal things.
Source: License Global May Issue (Note, I got this information from the mobile version of the site, the issue isn’t showing on the desktop version, so if you’re desperate to view it, check the mobile version of the site.)
For one part i am glad they are being so much careful about the anniversary game announcement.
For the other part I have the biggest case of blue balls while waiting for even the slightest hint to appear, just give us something sega ._.
There’s a Sonic joke in there somewhere, if I could only reach it… X)””
well i dont have to lie but i agree but there always careful with there spare time on there titles and there products.
I’m referring to the “blue balls” comment. X)”””
uhhh what?
…Blake’s comment about getting blue balls because of all the waiting for any news of a new Sonic game.
Cause you get blue balls if you haven’t done anything to stimulate yourself sexually for a long period of time.
And Sonic is blue.
And he turns into a ball.
Thus
BLUE BALLS
Get it now?
yeah i do
Lol. I might feel the same!
The wait has been frustrating, but given the fact that the only console game Sonic Team has given us since Sonic Generations has been Lost World, I actually have faith that whatever they announce, should they even DECIDE to announce it for this year, will be good. Even if we don’t get it this year, I’ll gladly take a spectacular title over another release rushed for the holidays. Not naming names, but the games know who they are.
Very true. I appreciate the time they are taking for this game. On the other hand, I really wish we had something to be excited about. It could be a new poster, new details, or even a sketch of what they are thinking. It’s also kind of scary that these passed few months, we got news revolving Boom and Classic Sonic… nothing about Modern Sonic.
It could also be that they’re working on something that might wind up being complete and shipped out for the holiday season.
Geez, this is going to be less the anniversary of games and more of the anniversary of merchandise. Still, that tidbit about Sonic theme park attractions and sports foods sounds pretty cool. I can already picture myself nervously waiting in line for the Speed Highway roller coaster and having some Sonic themed energy chews in the middle of my Sonic anniversary workout run. And yeah, I agree that most of this is just Sega being really careful and tight lipped about how and when they reveal game announcements, since there’s still to be plenty of “big announcements” in the following months, that leaves plenty of room open for a “surprise” game reveal that will be in the wings for late fall/winter or early/mid 2017 release. I have to admit, I’m almost a little more excited about the prospect of a new Sonic game without really knowing anything about it. I mean, yeah, I know nothing about it, but at the same time, that leaves lots of possibilities open until they reveal what it is. Either way, it seems like this month is going to be where the momentum of the anniversary really starts hitting the Boost button, so I look forward to seeing what we’ll learn from these next few events.
Also, Sonic in the House of Blues? That’s a pun only I would be proud of. X)
This is basically my exact thoughts. I’m calling it right here, right now that the new game will be a launch title/launch window title for the NX while also releasing on PS4, Xbox One, and hopefully PC. If they are pulling out all the stops in all other aspects, why not for the main attraction as well? :p
This anniversary is looking to be even greater than the 20th and I am super hyped for what’s to come!
hgno this game can not be skip this year because its the anniversary of the sonic the hedgehog series so i don’t think the anniversary won’t fit on the NX.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be on the actual year, it could still be released early next year in honor of the anniversary. I mean, technically speaking the 25th year only starts in June, so from that point on it’s the actual 25th year of the franchise, so that leaves until next June for the game to be released post-2016. I’m not saying that’s going to happen, but if it did release after 2016, it still wouldn’t be as much of a problem, as long as it holds the logo of the 25th anniversary and it’s made in the same spirit as the 25th anniversary, then it will be an anniversary game to me, no matter when it’s released.
oh ok but i hope so because people want SEGA to announced the game already i want this anniversary event to be in june instead of july.
I can confirm that there will be another Sonic game. I know I’m not exactly a reliable source, but I spoke directly to Aaron Webber at PAX East asking him if there even will be a new game announcement this year and he said that all he could tell me was to tune into the party in July and I would be satisfied there…
Whatever the new game is, I hope it has parkour. That will be the feature that helps breaks Sonic out of linear 3D design. And no, I don’t mean for Sonic Team to just port over Lost World’s parkour engine, because that sucked for the most part. The controls for parkour were too complicated. Point is, Sonic has no reason to slow down when climbing a wall/hill. He should be blazing through it no problem. That could make level design way more natural and streamlined.
well sonic can make it though this even if he is fast and climb on walls, sonic can have a good future if his games won’t fail and go out of style. sonic team do other works on sonic games like sonic runners.
If parkour does make a comeback in the upcoming Sonic game, I hope it’s over the top, intense, and crazy fun because that’s what Sonic is to me. SA2 was fast and in a lot of the stages Sonic is doing crazy jumps off poles, ramps, or rails with grinding controls that really make you put some effort into playing the game. The boost games had you blasting through levels at crazy speeds with huge loops and, especially in Generations, great platforming challenges and fairly open level designs. I think a combination of those two with reworked and over the top parkour and more open ended level design would be awesome! I just thought of this and I kinda want it more than I want an Adventure like game now, cuz that’s always been my answer to the question “What type of Sonic game do you want?” up until now. I’m actually thinking of that old LinkSonic 5 Engine 2 fan project. That has glorious controls!
I definitely agree. I really like the sound of parkour in my 3D Sonic, but I’d like it to be better than it was in Sonic Lost World.
I loved the idea of the parkour system, but my problem with it was that it all it took to trigger it was running at/against a wall making tight platforming a nightmare. Perhaps if they brought back the parkour and to perform it you had to press, per-se, the right trigger, that’d work really well.
Also, I have to give SEGA props with how successful they’ve been at hiding the latest Sonic game. Usually, someone from a company would slip up, or there would be plausible rumors from “reliable sources”, but no, there’s absolutely nothing. All we have is just Webber and his hardcore teasing. For all we know, he’s making/posting certain photos in a certain manner to hint at certain aspects of the game, but we won’t know until we see the game itself.
Great job SEGA! 🙂 You have the fans right where you want ’em.
Thanks, Ricardo. 😉
well SEGA was really tight on there titles when it comes to the development, im sure that the new sonic title game announcement will come further soon, and be revealed at E-3 but i dont know if SEGA will have there booth in 2016 at E-3 this year. they didn’t have there own booth last year after the crazy situation in the company in February after all employees lost there jobs and SEGA has to Relocate.
That Sonic Youtube relaunch actually sounds kind of cool. If it’s anything like a mix of the newly minted Sonic Twitter and the Sonic Colors commercials, I’ll really be up for it.
Agreed.
And the moment you all been waiting for…. the next anniversary title is…. Sonic Dash 3!!!! xD
nah i don’t think so.
I thought it was Sonic Labyrinth 2 or Big’s Fishind Adventure 3
Jeez, they’re really pulling out the stops for this one.
Ima go with my gut and say the “25th Anniversary game” will launch in March of next year so it can launch alongside the NX. This is exciting though. I’m happy E3 isn’t being totally left out of the equation and some of my hype for the event has been restored. I can’t wait to see the new animated shorts coming on the STH YouTube channel. Aside from my thought that a mainstream Sonic game won’t be coming out this year, this year is sounding great despite what people may think of Fire and Ice or SXSW.
theres no way they can’t skip this anniversary they year and patcher said that the NX will have a small third party as we hope.
https://mynintendonews.com/2016/05/03/pachter-doubtful-nintendo-nx-will-see-much-third-party-western-support/
I’m pretty sure the 25th anniversary title will launch this year. If not, then sure, early 2017 could work. Either way, I could definitely see SEGA porting their 25th anniversary game to NX as well. SEGA would be silly not to take advantage of having a main Sonic title on shelves at launch. And, if a 3D Mario isn’t at launch, then Sonic will most likely be the only relevant platformer.
Also, sonicgalaxy, don’t listen to Patcher. He’s not Nintendo. He doesn’t know what’s going on.
well we are sure that this anniversary will make its debut this year, because sonic can’t skip this game this year because they are still working on other titles in there development this year because SEGA can’t listen to fans anymore.
and Ricardo, your saying that patcher lied about everything about the small third party because some people think that he is a moron because he doesn’t know nintendo very well?
Sonicgalaxy, you specifically said that Patcher says NX will have low third party support. How the heck would he know that?
…Exactly. He doesn’t. He’s just speculating. He knows nothing. So don’t put words into my mouth.
I get it, you don’t like Nintendo, but stop trying to downplay everyone’s theory of it coming to NX as well just because you don’t like Nintendo.
ricardo, your saying that patcher don’t know nintendo very well because he is too stupid to understand about whats going on.
second i understand what you mean because SEGA has a chance to get this anniversary going this year.
The 25th Anniversary game launching next year just makes sense to me. It launching alongside NX is an awesome idea and it would show that SEGA is actually taking their time.
nah i don’t want them to skip this anniversary in 2016 i want this anniversary to be out this year not on NX.
Would “Sonic Awakening” sound like a good name for the upcoming game, once it finally shows up?
Sounds akin to Sonic Unleashed 2
What if the new game turns out to be a Sonic Arena reboot done by Sonic Team?
I’m so hype a lot & crying a lot getting mad a lot of Sega is doing okay with new Sonic game 2016 awesome good bad or horrible if it does I would never ever play Sonic games a lot to hate Sonic a lot to be not a Sonic fan anymore forever sense 2009!!! Because Sega always makes anything mistaking to us more okay or Sega makes a hype new Sonic awesome new Sonic good new Sonic game I will be totally a Sonic fan forever from now on to like Sonic a lot this is hard to tell which or that is a fastest Sonic game in our lives!
That was a rather tasty word salad.
Hogfather, TSSZ just picked up some confirmation from Aaron Webber that there apparently ISN’T going to be any big E3 event this year. Sounds like there’s a miscommunication between sources. 😛
Tell them to take it up with Global License and the people from Sega who did the interview.
Just saying that this info could be wrong, it would effect this article’s accuracy just as much as it affects theirs.
There might not be an event, but maybe something Sonic related will be shown during E3.
I’m beginning to think maybe we all jumped the gun in assuming there’d be an anniversary game? They never hinted that there would be or that we should expect one. What if they just honestly trying trying to get away with just M&S and fire & ice this year and now they are stuck throwing events and merchandise at us trying to satisfy us. What if all this weight was suppose to be carried by Boom rise of lyric and they never adapted a back up plan to that game failing?
Now reality check: Sega how about you just announce the game at E3 like a normal company ran by competent human beings?
Don’t count anything out just yet. It makes sense for there to be an anniversary game, especially since we haven’t had any major main series release in a while either. Really we just haven’t gotten any confirmation yet. I think it would be jumping the gun to assume that there ISN’T a game to wait for at all, cause no one has come out and said that they are or aren’t making a game, so to assume that there isn’t one just because no one has said “yes” is a bit of an overreach as well. Nobody has said “yes” or “no” yet, so let’s just wait until they do before we jump to any kind of conclusion.
However, I will say that the CHANCE of there being an anniversary game is still pretty high. It’s not a definite conclusion, but it’s a likely scenario.
Lots of merch. Huh.
Though besides that, all we’ve learned about is a few events. I’ll just wait patiently for the new game announcement.
They better have something freaking amazing planned to announce, because I dunno man, being so quiet on this front… I’m a pessimist though, so who knows.
Better release it on PS4 or any other sony system, because otherwise bye bye sonic for me .
Sonic’s not exclusive. Get over it.
pretty disappointing anniversary year so far.
i know right.
Ugh, is a Mainstream Sonic game EVER going to be released on Xbox One/PS4? Nintendo console owners aren’t Sonic’s only fans guys!
After Sonic 06 and Sonic 4, this new game had better be fucking good.