Ohashi Osamu, head of SEGA’s second division, set very aggressive goals for the Sonic franchise in an interview on the company’s website.
Objective: Defeat Mario. This has not worked well over the past three decades (Sonic Superstars and Super Mario Bros. Wonder were released in the same week, and the latter was clearly better…), so it will not be an easy task for us Japanese company. But Ohashi doesn’t really care: he wants the franchise to expand into multiple genres, while his team also wants to revive another classic IP to be similarly successful…
“The most unique feature of the second division is that it produces SEGA’s biggest IP, Sonic. Although it is not considered as significant in Japan, it has had the best performances at the US box office as a game-to-IP movie. Simply put, we want to surpass Mario. Sonic is a game that was originally developed to compete with it, but it has not achieved that goal yet. Our goal is to catch up and surpass Mario because we respect him. I want people all over the world (including Japan) to play as Mario, and I want the movie to be a bigger success. I would also like Universal Studios Japan to create a “Sonic Zone.” This is our goal for those who love Sonic.
Sonic is an action game, but if we keep making the same games, people won’t be able to play it for a long time. Our mission is to expand the potential of the franchise while challenging different game genres. We need to create games in genres that appeal to all IPs, not just Sonic. Therefore, one of its advantages is that you can experience all kinds of genres, such as sports, action, and simulation RPG games.
Another important task of the second section is the “Legendary IP Strategy”, which works to revive IPs that were successful in the past. We’re creating Sonic II, building on the knowledge that made Sonic a global success. Of course, we want to consolidate the intellectual property, but we also want to create a team capable of mass production of world-famous titles following Sonic. “I want to put this knowledge (which has been a global hit) into a replicable framework and develop other characters into IPs that can be used around the world,” Ohashi said.
good luck…
source: WCCFTech
