Sega’s gameplay reveal of Sonic Frontiers earlier this month has not gone well at all, with many Sonic fans having taken to social media to complain about what they claim is a hugely disappointing and lackluster effort, going so far as to promote a #DelaySonicFrontiers hashtag to convince its developers to step back and take a closer look at what they’re doing. Unfortunately for Sonic fans, this is not happening, according to Sonic Team studio head Takashi Iizuka, who brushed aside the mixed reaction to the gameplay footage in a new interview with VGC and suggested that players simply “don’t understand” the game well enough yet. Iizuka is fully aware of the complaints but has urged Sonic fans to give Frontiers a chance, urging them to get a hands-on with the new open-world title at Gamescom, Tokyo Game Show, and other upcoming events before making final judgment. Sonic Frontiers is still aiming for a release this year, according to the game’s official website, which counts a Steam version among its platforms.
Fans want to enjoy an increase in polished game offerings, like you enjoyed increased business offers and sales.
— Evan (@Mardiculous) June 4, 2022
It was a FAN that lead the movie redesign that helped you achieve that success.
It's time to raise OUR bar. Not SEGA's.#DelaySonicFrontiers #SonicFrontiers pic.twitter.com/w40Fze1gNQ
“It’s not really that surprising,” Iizuka replied. “We do realise everyone is just kind of reacting to the videos that they saw, and because they don’t understand what this new gameplay is they’re kind of comparing it to other games that they already know.
“So we do see a lot of people saying, ‘oh, it’s kind of like this, it’s kind of like that, but it’s not like this, it’s not like that’. And really, the team is going out and creating this new game format for Sonic, and we’re calling it an ‘open zone’ format.
“And this new game system itself is something that doesn’t really exist in any other comparable titles, so we really hope that from here until launch we can really explain what open zone gameplay is.”
He added: “If people come to Gamescom or Tokyo Game Show, [they can] get that hands-on experience to play the game and understand what the game is. Because right now we’re just kind of watching videos of people reacting to what they believe the game to be.”
Source: VGC