Sonic without Sega?

[The future]

I think someone would buy the franchise. Its longevity at this point has at least proven that the franchise is considerably and consistently profitable. The industry would be mistaken to let it die for that reason alone. Who would get it is anyone's guess, although I put my money on the guys with the most money to blow on offers *shudders at EA*.

None of those greedy 3rd party developers like Ea, Activision, etc. deserve to get Sonic as a whole. They don't cherish platformers in general and they really would bring an era even worse than the 05-09 period. The big N needs to save them.

[GoalRing]

As most people said, Nintendo.

But if Nintendo couldent, i would say Naughty dog.

We could call the next game Sonic 3: Chuck's Deception.

Trolololol.

[DGam'r]

I'm scared to imagine what would happen if this gets worse

[Kiah]

If Sega was to cave in, that would truly be a nightmare. In regards to taking Sonic down with them, I wouldn't put it past Sega not to. I'm not randomly thinking this due to the many bad decisions Sega has made in recent years, resulting in bad things such as the layoffs reported this past Friday. So it wouldn't surprise me if they took Sonic down with them if that ever happened.

But I hope this will never happen, seeing Sonic become of nothing. Sonic is an internationally known figure with charm, appeal, and 2+ decades of longevity behind him among other things. Say what you want about Sonic, be it positive or negative, but he is still popular and Sonic sells, having a significant fanbase that wouldn't be wise to cut off. It would be a real shame to allow Sonic to become nonexistant considering what he has positively going for him.

I'm personally against giving him to Nintendo. That would make him first-party again, and I'm not particularly fond of Nintendo's new consoles.

Good point (Aptiva mentioned this too in addition to Microsoft and Sony). Sonic currently being third party makes him expendable reaching an wider audience via Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Sonic being under Nintendo would change that, being exclusive to them only. And I can't see that going well, epecially those that don't have any Nintendo consoles or don't want to have them even. (This could go for either Sony or Microsoft as well) That is my only complaint about Nintendo having Sonic under their wing; otherwise I am sure they would take good care of him

[Koopalmier]

Remember that they're humans. In time they change hands, many of the team members would probably have gotten new jobs, and those jobs may be better than what Nintendo may offer them. That's just may.

Maybe, maybe not. if Nintendo REALLY wants the majority of Sega, they could even buy most of the major employees who already found another job. That's many famous IPs we're talking about - House of the Dead, Sonic, Nights, Bayonetta...

It's not them intentionally changing Sonic. It's just the fact that Sonic's a completely different game from what they're used to. It's running at incredible speeds, not exploring around. Nintendo knows how to make games, that's for sure. They treat their creations well. I just wouldn't put too much faith on them. You're handing over something that's completely out of their ball park and expecting it to do better than someone who had it for years.

It's not a matter of them already knowing how to replicate Sonic gameplay or not or something. Sonic gameplay isn't hard to replicate, and considering there are HUNDREDS of experts at Nintendo, I can very well see them manage to study, learn and train on how to make good Sonic levels and be ready to make a Sonic game two months later.

Also, EAD is VERY good with platformers, and made Zelda and F-Zero, so hell, they could make a Sonic Adventure 3. Monolith Soft is good with adventure games too. Also Retro has proved they can learn and replicate a game quick, so learning how to replicate physics and graphics would be easy for them.

Nintendo may have never made a Sonic game, but I'm pretty sure they have the cards in hands to learn how to, and to make a great game as that.

As for the issue of Sonic not being as wide anymore...

Considering Sonic's history with Nintendo consoles already (Sonic Advance, Battle, Heroes and Shadow being mainly developped for GameCube, Secret Rings, Black Knight, Colors, Rush...), I'm not sure there's any Sonic fan out there who REALLY doesn't want a Nintendo console if they don't already have one. As for people who don't know about Sonic yet and don't have a Nintendo console and don't want one - let's hope Nintendo manages reaching to them someday.

As for people who are Sonic fans not having a Nintendo console and not being able to buy one... hey, it's Sega going bankrupt, guys. There's no way it can go well for everyone.

[blackherox]

Nintendo have no need and therefore would not purchase Sonic whatever the scenario. They have plenty of franchises that sell like hotcakes (i.e Mario +spinoffs, Pokemon, Wii + anything, Zelda etc) why would they spend a significant amount of money to acquire Sonic, when they can just release another Mario Kart or Pokemon or Wii Sports?

[Koopalmier]

Nintendo have no need and therefore would not purchase Sonic whatever the scenario. They have plenty of franchises that sell like hotcakes (i.e Mario +spinoffs, Pokemon, Wii + anything, Zelda etc) why would they spend a significant amount of money to acquire Sonic, when they can just release another Mario Kart or Pokemon or Wii Sports?

Oh, I don't know. I thought that acquiring a new IP that sells incredibly well could lead to getting high amounts of money by making games using said IP.

[blackherox]

Oh, I don't know. I thought that acquiring a new IP that sells incredibly well could lead to getting high amounts of money by making games using said IP.

Ignoring the money that will go into acquiring said IP and money for development of said games, when of course they could just release one of the many aforementioned games. Which seems like an easier more convenient option?

Sonic doesn't fill any niche that Nintendo don't already have filled. They don't need Sonic and I've never seen them express any interest in the contrary.

[Scar]

I never want to see Sonic go first party. Especially with Nintendo. I really don't want to have to buy one of their consoles to play a franchise I enjoy.

As for the situation in mind....well lets just hope it doesn't happen. Any possible situation is a bad one. EA or Activision is bad, bad, BAD news. Capcom....? Megaman, 'nuff said really. First party, Microsoft/Sony, fuck no. I don't like Nintendo consoles all that much, I'm sure there exist Sonic fans who don't like Sony or Microsoft. Bad move.

Best possible option is Sonic Team becoming independant and giving publishing rights to someone (......say for example.....oh.....I dunno, VALVE,) rather than total control over the franchise. Perhaps even improving and/or licencing the Hedgehog Engine technology cheaply to Indie Devs.

[BaronSFel001]

Maybe it is because I am more of a classical than a contemporary Sega gamer, but all this love for Nintendo honestly makes me sick. Sega may be on hard times but Sonic has never been in a success rut in any point of his life besides the Saturn days (Sonic 2006 still made Platinum Family Hits), and as far as game quality it keeps getting better and better nowadays. Nintendo has never done anything to deserve ownership of the Sonic franchise because part of the appeal since 1991 has been how different Sega properties are from Nintendo properties. The death of Sega (not all that likely the way I see it) would not necessitate the death of Sonic Team or the other studios; the more likely scenario is like the semi-independence those studios got in the Dreamcast days being extended to full independence for whatever form they are now. But I must also concede that in the games industry, the unexpected can be expected, case in point: who would have thought 3D Realms would just get rid of Duke Nukem like they did, leaving the company impotent (in more ways than one)?

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Most people are saying Nintendo (which is no surprise really) would buy Sega if they fall under. However that would not always be the case. Microsoft and Sony has more money than Nintendo and if they are after Sega too, Nintendo will fall short. The only way Nintendo would get Sega if Microsoft and/or Sony are after them is Sega says "They are only interested with Nintendo".

The problems I have with Nintendo is that Nintendo has many well known franchises already. Also the way Nintendo is going with the motion control stuff for the Wii/Wii U, I can't see Sonic enjoyable after playing Black Knight and Secret Rings. Sonic has to remain in buttons and buttons only. Even Colors was hard to play without using a Gamecube Controller/Classic Controller. Besides in Nintendo's World, not even Sonic can top Pokemon in level of importance. If Nintendo has a limited budget, and they have to make a decision between releasing a new Pokemon game or a Sonic game, Pokemon will go first.

I don't know about Microsoft so I can't say anything about them. However Sony does have great subsidiaries that can support Sonic Team making a GOTY Sonic game. Naughty Dog the outstanding one in particular. They will be the ones after Nintendo that I will support them in to helping Sonic Team make a good game. Their history with Crash and Jak says so.

However to be perfectly honest I wish Nintendo, Sony OR Microsoft wouldn't get their hands on Sega if they go down under. Either Sega stays dead or another third-party developer gets them. I don't want to buy another console just for Sonic games and I'm sure you guys will feel the same. I wouldn't be completely happy if Nintendo gets Sega because I would force to buy a Nintendo console from now on and I hate that.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Ming Ming Love

[Solly]

Give it to Capcom.

Green Hill Zone Act 2 to be on the disc DLC at the low price of 99 cents. Don't complain. If you do you're acting entitled.

...

Seriously though, I think Nintendo would be a good fit, considering they know how to make 3D platformers really work, but we're kidding ourselves if we think he'd get the Mario/Zelda treatment. The good majority of Nintendo franchises that aren't the big ones aren't made in NIntendo's main EAD studios, and often times they have a hard time getting sequels.

But to be realistic, I don't know any particular company that would go after Sonic if SEGA went under, but I do know that his marketability and big name would probably be pretty sought after by at least a couple of developers.

[The future]

...give Sonic to Prope... or Artoon.

Actually, Prope and Artoon should band together to make games based on some of SEGA's most cherished IPs, mainly from the old AM2 division, focusing mainly on Sonic.

Let's call them the "Sonic Team."

...okay, in all due seriousness, I can see Nintendo taking care of Sonic and a few other SEGA characters. They make some fantastic games, and I'd like to see their take on Sonic or NiGHTS.

If Sonic Team can merge with Artoon, then that would be the best. Outside of going to Nintendo.

[Milo]

Regarding Artoon, that company went defunct two years ago. Some of Artoon's key members (including Naoto Ōshima) founded another company, Arzest; who just recently developed some mini-games for Nintendo's Wii Play: Motion as well as the Nintendo 3DS's StreetPass Mii Plaza.

So I guess in this case it would be Prope + Arzest.

Personally, I have to echo with everyone else that Nintendo would probably be one of the best possible choices for Sonic to go to if Sega collasped. It would also be pretty interesting to see how Sonic would turn out if Sonic Team become an independent developer/publisher and took full control over the franchise.

[Eastwood]

If SEGA continues this trend of money problems like this recent 7.1 billion yen loss, then this concept may not be complete fantasy.

I am pretty sure a bunch of other companies would be willing to purchase the franchise should this ever happen.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Eastwood

[Chaos Warp]

If SEGA continues this trend of money problems like this recent 7.1 billion yen loss, then this concept may not be complete fantasy.

Hopefully the downsizing will allow them to stay afloat.

And if SEGA went under, I would actually hope Sonic Team merged with Prope. Naka knows Sonic, and I would love to see him and Iizuka collaborate.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Chaos Warp

[Carbo]

Would rather see something with Activision or EA really. They knows their stuff, and can easily put it into the Sonic Universe.

This is a joke, right?

[Urban Flow]

I would not want Sonic to go to any other developer/company. Not even Nintendo. They just don't know Sonic like Sega does.

[Carbo]

Activision has been doing good lately (Kung Fu Panda) and EA keeps doing good (Battlefield, Mirrors Edge etc.).

That's not "lately". Lately is Modern Warfare 3 and CoD Elite. Lately is Mass Effect 3 and The Old Republic. None of those games are even developed by either companies; they're just published, with ridiculous consumer-scamming practices and interest in nothing more other than milking their intellectual properties to a pulp.

Lest we forget, terrible disregard to established franchises.