In an interview with Game Informer during E3 2019, Takashi Iizuka, head of the Sonic Team, said that 2021 will be the “next big year” for Sonic the Hedgehog. 2021 happens to be the 30th anniversary of the Sonic franchise, so the Sonic Team is already “preparing” for the big milestone.
Iizuka’s words come months after he announced that his team was developing a new main series Sonic game at South By Southwest back in March of this year. He didn’t have any details regarding title, gameplay features, or even a release window, but that wasn’t the only news from their panel; they discussed more details regarding Team Sonic Racing, which released on all platforms last month, and unveiled Part 1 of new animated short by the team behind the popular Sonic Mania Adventures series. (Part 2 has since been released.)
Iizuka didn’t offer much about the title currently in development at E3 2019. Game Informer described him as “evasive,” as he couldn’t “tell [them] anything about the game or when we can expect an update.” He did say that past anniversary celebrations for Sonic may give us an idea of what 2021 will look like, as the interviewer brought up Sonic Generations and other milestone games released by Sega in 2011 for Sonic’s 20th anniversary.
Iizuka appeared to be considering what fans want in future Sonic titles. He discussed allowing players to use Ray the Flying Squirrel and Mighty the Armadillo in Sonic Mania Plus, released last July, describing them as “famous” and “very fan-requested,” which is “why [they] decided to use those characters.”
Not much is known about the game currently in development, and though 2021 is still a year and a half away, fans can look forward to Sonic making his cinematic debut next year when Sonic the Hedgehog hits theaters.