During a recent interview with the YouTube channel Good Vibes Gaming, Takashi Iizuka, head of the Sonic Team, expressed his interest in developing a Sonic RPG before retiring from Sega. This conversation took place during a preview of the upcoming game Sonic x Shadow Generations, where Iizuka shared his aspirations and thoughts on the future of the Sonic franchise.
Iizuka revealed his long-standing interest in role-playing games, noting that it has been 30 years since Sonic’s inception, yet the franchise has not explored the RPG genre extensively. “Personally, I really like role-playing games,” Iizuka stated. “The RPG game format is a lot of fun, and I’ve even thought to myself, ‘you know, for the past 30 years, we haven’t done a Sonic RPG.’ And I’m questioning myself. ‘Why haven’t we done a Sonic RPG in all this time? How have we gotten to 30 years with no RPGs?!'”
Despite his enthusiasm, Iizuka acknowledged that his dream of creating a Sonic RPG remains just that—a dream. “So I’d like to hopefully work on a Sonic RPG at some point before I retire from Sega. But you know, that’s just a dream right now. There are no concrete plans at this point.”
Sonic Team has the option to create an RPG in-house or seek assistance from other studios within Sega, such as Atlus. If they choose to develop a Sonic RPG, Atlus could be a strong candidate for collaboration. The last time the Sonic series ventured into the RPG genre was with the release of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood on the Nintendo DS. This game was developed by Bioware, the same studio behind the critically acclaimed Mass Effect series.
Sonic x Shadow Generations is scheduled for release on October 25, 2024. It will be available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC.