If Sonic was ever sold to another game company...

[LadyBrightcynder]

I've been wondering this for a while. If, say, the worst possible thing happened and Sega had to sell off the Sonic license, who would you most like to see in control of the franchise?

Personally I'd say Nintendo. I think they'd handle the series well, balance the serious and goofy aspects of the series, and generally produce good quality games. I'd really love to see epic adventures with a strong focus on its universe, like Zelda. I wouldn't want them churning out iterations ever year, maybe just produce high-quality titles every 3 years or so. It would kindof suck to have Sonic restricted in terms of console appearance though. I'd feel pretty sad if the license just faded into obscurity or some company just sat on the license without doing anything.

What do you guys think?

[NoirSuede]

I've been wondering this for a while. If, say, the worst possible thing happened and Sega had to sell off the Sonic license, who would you most like to see in control of the franchise?

Personally I'd say Nintendo. I think they'd handle the series well, balance the serious and goofy aspects of the series, and generally produce good quality games. I'd really love to see epic adventures with a strong focus on its universe, like Zelda. I wouldn't want them churning out iterations ever year, maybe just produce high-quality titles every 3 years or so. It would kindof suck to have Sonic restricted in terms of console appearance though. I'd feel pretty sad if the license just faded into obscurity or some company just sat on the license without doing anything.

What do you guys think?

This may sound really weird but I personally hope that Bethesda gets control of Sonic, they have healthy production cycles (about 3 years) and since they're one of the few AAA publishers to hand out mod tools these days even if the game ends up sucking the community can just fix it with mods and also make not-shitty looking 3D fan-games.

[Milo]

If we're assuming that Sonic would effectively be wholly owned by a new publisher, Sonic could be given to anyone under the stipulation that they actually know how to competently handle a worldwide premium franchise and consistently make quality games. Under the context of franchise management, just get as far away from Sega and Sonic Team's influence as possible.

Its a bit of a non-answer, I know, it's just that these threads usually devolve into pipe-dream lists of developers we wish would make a Sonic game or blacklists of companies we don't ever want to see handle Sonic because reasons.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Gabe

[Matthew]

I wouldn't mind seeing the development team who did Rayman Origins take over Sonic. Rayman Origins was really good at getting Rayman's attitude across and putting some dark atmosphere in the game, whilst still creating a bright and excellent platformer. I also think the art style in that game would lend itself to Sonic nicely. I think Nintendo would probably still do a good job but I think it would be best if Sonic was still a bit separate from Mario, he's supposed to be his rival and all, if a bit more friendly now than back in his hey-day.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

I don't like NIntendo in control of Sonic, there's a reason there was a console wars between the Sega and Nintendo, they have diffrent game philosophies.
Not to mention, I'm worried Nintendo throws all their franchises in one art style/ design philosophy deep fryer, I can barely see the diffrence between Donkey Kong Returns, Kirby and Mario these days where in the past they had a very clear distinction in style and atmopshere.
I don't want to see Sonic to become slightly fast blue Yoshi.
Altough if Nintendo uses a side studio like Platonium, then I have more hope.

But sure, with Nintendo,  the games will get the time and care they need.
Nintendo will definitly fix the quality issues of Sonic and make them feel more finished and polished but I don't think they GET the appeal of Sega/ Sonic. Sonic needs a cool and sexyness factor in there.
He's more then merely another platformer.
Sonic needs that OOMPH to stand against a juggernaught like Mario. If good gameplay is all that mattered, Megaman and Rayman would be standing tall next to Mario, but they're even below Sonic in sales.

I'd prefer Sony to take over. Right in the middle between fluffy wacky Nintendo and harsh nerdy X-box.
More hip, more crowd pleasing then Nintendo. More willing to listen to feedback.
Might be a chance of unfinished and clumsy game releases Assasin's Creed style, but not as disastrous as Sega.
At least there will be a Patch to get it 99% right where Sega just lives their unfinished games in limbo.
Yeah, that'd be my preference.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Roger_van_der_weide

[Badnik Mechanic]

Nintendo controlling Sonic would be awful.

Frankly through best company to get it would be Disney closely followed by Sony. 

Whilst other companies like Platinum games would make a cracking game, they don't do mascot characters.

[Matthew]

Nintendo controlling Sonic would be awful.

Frankly through best company to get it would be Disney closely followed by Sony. 

Whilst other companies like Platinum games would make a cracking game, they don't do mascot characters.

 I don't think it would be awful. Nintendo make consistently great games still, they've just gotten over-reliant on their familiar IPs. They would probably make a great Sonic game, it would just lose some of it's original identity and become more Nintendo-fied. I don't think Nintendo are the best candidate, but they would most likely do a good job.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Nah, they would use him for an educational cartoon. Just like they did with Mickey.

No they really wouldn't. Disney do not fuck around with the stuff they own. They're protective of it and they know how to both market and license it out. Since Disney started to take a more active role in their game division their games have improved dramatically.

Also their movies, whilst they churn out a lot of made for TV crap, when it comes to licenses they've bought they don't mess around, Marvel, Star Wars,  Muppets... all of which have improved a ton since Disney got them.

[Your Vest Friend]

To be honest, Sonic seems like the kind of IP that would die outright instead of going to someone else.

[Matthew]

To be honest, Sonic seems like the kind of IP that would die outright instead of going to someone else.

No way. Sonic's one of the most recognised faces in gaming. He'd be brought right up, doesn't matter how low he falls. The only danger would be if he was brought up and not used, like Crash Bandicoot and Activision.

[Milo]

Eh, I really don't like the idea about Disney having Sonic. They've never really shown a historical interest in maintaining/cultivating videogame IPs. They have some fine licensed game titles to their works in their name, but otherwise it's not really anything longstanding. And they're even worse with game studios. Junction Point, Black Rock Studio, LucasArts, all disintegrated either when their games failed to sell gangbusters or --in the case of LucasArts-- Disney got control of them.

At best, I see Disney probably trying to turn Sonic into a animated series or extensively milking its merchandising value, but not any serious --if any-- interest in continuing to make mainline games.

To be honest, Sonic seems like the kind of IP that would die outright instead of going to someone else.

I dunno about this. Sonic's reputation has been hit by a truck more than several times and the games have historically sold less; but he is a pretty big brand in terms of merchandising (and that's speaking for both the classic and contemporary sides of the IP). The Boom TV show is also doing well in the ratings (and so has the merch, from what I've heard), and there are also the Genesis games that --usually-- sell well on a variety of platforms.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Gabe

[Badnik Mechanic]

To be honest, Sonic seems like the kind of IP that would die outright instead of going to someone else.

This is actually pretty close to the truth. 

 

[Matthew]

This is actually pretty close to the truth. 

 

How can you guys say that? It makes no sense. Sonic still sells incredibly well when his games are good (look at Colors) and his merchandise is out the roof, including the Boom stuff in the West especially. Look at the incredible mobile success of games like Sonic Dash and the re-releases of Classic titles.

There is no way in hell that Sonic would be left to die and not be bought up. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

How can you guys say that? It makes no sense. Sonic still sells incredibly well when his games are good (look at Colors) and his merchandise is out the roof, including the Boom stuff in the West especially. Look at the incredible mobile success of games like Sonic Dash and the re-releases of Classic titles.

Is it? Pay for Sonic games have been in decline over the last 3 years, whilst I would attribute the quality of the product and the moronic Nintendo only decision as a reason for that fact remains it's in decline and due to the horror which was Boom and the poor SLW, that's going to be a stigma for many more years to come. 

As for the merch, you gonna provide me with some sales figures to back that up?

Merchandise is out the roof? What merch? 

Merchandise has been in decline, most of the announced stuff fails to make it to retail. As for Boom Merch, you are kidding right? Boom is right now exclusive to TRU in the US and The Entertainer in the UK.

The Entertainer in the UK is NOT restocking the Boom merch, case in point is Eggman, Eggman has been sold out since day 1 and he's never been back in stock, the placement of Boom merch in my local Entertainer store has been relegated to a clearance shelf and today I just posted this tweet.

Entertainer is trying to get rid of it, there is barely any of it left and with no new episodes in the UK there is little to no reason to keep it in store right now. 

I would hypothesise that the only reason Boom merch appears to be selling out is because there is barely any stock and retailers are not restocking it. I was the first person in my local entertainer to buy the Eggman figure for instance, I instantly put my name down for the second one to come into stock... I am still waiting for one. This was several months ago.... I am still waiting at number 1 on the waiting list. 

Merch through the roof? They said Boom would have 40 different licenses... we did try to keep track of these licenses before the forum wipe, I believe we had about 7 listed. Most of these were clothing in US stores. 

The brand is recognisable, but nobody cares enough for it to be a huge commercial success, the mobile games are only making money due to the lack of effort being put into them and the amount of money one or two whales are pouring into it and the mini transactions that other people are randomly adding in there, so what? Show me any high marketed F2P game full of skinner box techniques which isn't doing that.

[Wraith]

The only people I'd see actually wanting Sonic to begin with is Nintendo and I don't even see them going out of their way to get him. It's not like they need another platformer, and it's not filling any niches like Bayonetta was. It's a shame, since there are a lot of studios under Nintendo that could nail a Sonic game. 

 

Sony could potentially do an even better job, but what would they want with him? 

[DarkDefeater]

I'm staring to believe that everything is riding on Sonic's next anniversary game. Sonic took an incredible hit in 06, one that the franchise still has not fully recovered from. If Sonic's silver anniversary is good or great, he'll stay afloat for a few more years.

If not, I'm not sure Sonic can recover. Sonic can't take another anniversary hit.

If the worst case scenario does occur, I would love for Sonic to be sold to another company, overall Sony I suppose. But I wouldn't be surprised if he just faded like Crash Bandicoot.

And that makes me sad; I"ve been a Sonic fan for a rather long time. All good things must come to an end, but I'm not ready for that end to come just yet.

 

[Matthew]

Is it? Pay for Sonic games have been in decline over the last 3 years, whilst I would attribute the quality of the product and the moronic Nintendo only decision as a reason for that fact remains it's in decline and due to the horror which was Boom and the poor SLW, that's going to be a stigma for many more years to come. 

Sonic games have been cheaper lately because of how short they are, nothing to do with SEGA's financial situation or Sonic's implied quality. It's not unusual, other franchises have been doing it. Titanfall actually came under fire because it was launched at full retail price, same with Mario Maker. You can't argue with the sales that Sonic had during Sonic Generations era. 3 million sales for Generations is pretty good for a supposed 'no hoper'.

Also, the idea to partner with Nintendo wasn't an obviously stupid one. Sonic Colors sold really well and even Black Knight and Secret Rings did, despite being shoddy products. Sonic had more presence on the Wii, partly because Sonic does better with family audiences and partly because the Wii sold like hotcakes so the install base was massive.

The Nintendo only decision ended up as a major blow because of how badly the Wii U did. Mario sells way better but his Wii U outings pale in comparison to his earlier titles. It also was a blunder because of how mediocre Lost World was and how disastrous Boom ended up being. The Nintendo partnership wasn't a disastrous concept it just ended up being damn unlucky and poor vision due to neglecting how popular the Wii was.

Is it? Pay for Sonic games have been in decline over the last 3 years, whilst I would attribute the quality of the product and the moronic Nintendo only decision as a reason for that fact remains it's in decline and due to the horror which was Boom and the poor SLW, that's going to be a stigma for many more years to come. 

As for the merch, you gonna provide me with some sales figures to back that up?

Merchandise is out the roof? What merch? 

Merchandise has been in decline, most of the announced stuff fails to make it to retail. As for Boom Merch, you are kidding right? Boom is right now exclusive to TRU in the US and The Entertainer in the UK.

Okay, you got we with the Merch, I didn't realise it had been in decline. I only knew that demand had risen in 2012:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/sega-sees-sonic-toys-sales-surge/091967

Besides, the Merch was just a throway comment, not sure why you had to leap on it in such an over the top manner.

The main point I was making is that, aside from the Wii U disasters, the games still sell really well, in fact with Unleashed they were actually selling better than before. You are right that the Free to Play market is very lucrative, but that makes the market ever more competitive. The incredible success Sonic has had on mobile shouldn't just be shrugged away because of this.

I fail to see any logical reason why another company wouldn't buy up Sonic, who's a superstar of gaming, who still sells very well. Seems like a knee-jerk reaction from disgruntled fans to me.

 

Edited September 17, 2015 by Matthew

[Badnik Mechanic]

Sonic games have been cheaper lately because of how short they are,

 

A typical retail release Sonic game has a budget of over $20million. However the products you're listing here are in some cases over 5 years old which is a lifetime for brand relevance and recognition.

Lately Sonic games have ranged from being poor to bad. 

Generations may have sold 3 million (would love to know where this figure came from), but it sure as hell didn't sell that number if the first year, in fact it wasn't even close to that number. 

The most recent game had it's sales figures estimation slashed by 50% and made even less than that revised figure. SLW also sold below expectations. 

And the Nintendo Partership was disastrous, just look at all of Segas exclusive games for the Wii U in the last 2 years, all have bombed, badly.

[Matthew]

A typical retail release Sonic game has a budget of over $20million. However the products you're listing here are in some cases over 5 years old which is a lifetime for brand relevance and recognition.

This is a problem for all modern games though, the profit margins are being thinned due to more expensive developments. It's not unique to Sonic.

And the Nintendo Partership was disastrous, just look at all of Segas exclusive games for the Wii U in the last 2 years, all have bombed, badly.

I know, I pointed that out!

Generations may have sold 3 million (would love to know where this figure came from)

Excuse me? How rude.

[Milo]

Generations may have sold 3 million (would love to know where this figure came from), but it sure as hell didn't sell that number if the first year, in fact it wasn't even close to that number.

The closest thing I could find was this Spanish website saying it sold that much. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold a source. That said, I think the source it used to get that number was VGChartz, which sports a similar number (3.84 million across all releases), so...I would take it with a truckload of salt. The most reliable source I know of is this official report of it selling 1.85 million (PS3/360/3DS) as of May 2012.

 

Excuse me? How rude.

Wanting an credible source for a questionable sales number qualifies as rudeness now?

Edited September 17, 2015 by Gabe

[Diogenes]

If we're dreaming, I'd still like to see Retro Studios take a shot at it. They nailed Metroid (in 3D, even!), they nailed DKC, I think they'd have a good chance of digging out some of the best parts of Sonic and remixing them into something that's faithful while still feeling fresh.

[LadyBrightcynder]

Um ^^' Getting back on track since this has derailed a bit, another company that would probably do a good job would be Playtonic Games, who are making the upcoming Yooka-Laylee. They have a lot of experience with mascot platformers and I think they could really capture the magic. Of course, that would be very hypothetical, since Yooka-Laylee hasn't been released yet, so this is just going on a guess.

Edit: I just want to add I didn't intend this topic as a "Oh god Sonic is going to die, what will happen?" topic, it was just meant to be a fun "what if" scenario of what Sonic might be like under different companies. Sorry if it came across that way.

Edited September 17, 2015 by LadyBrightcynder
Emphasis

[Badnik Mechanic]

 

Excuse me? How rude.

How was it rude? 

Your blindly quoting numbers. I want a source of that number. 

[DiamondX]

On Topic: Nintendo. I see them making the stories more interesting,full of action but at the same time funny.

Off Topic: Rise of Lyric was terrible, but i never understood why so many people hate Lost World. Its because its trying something new?

[LadyBrightcynder]

On Topic: Nintendo. I see them making the stories more interesting,full of action but at the same time funny.

Off Topic: Rise of Lyric was terrible, but i never understood why so many people hate Lost World. Its because its trying something new?

I actually made a thread on the latter last night XD http://board.sonicstadium.org/topic/19996-whats-wrong-with-lost-world/