How do you feel when fans say "X Sonic Game is the franchise's last chance?"

[Rabbitearsblog]

So lately, after the announcement of Sonic Frontiers, there's been some fans who's been saying "Sonic Frontiers is the Sonic Franchise's last chance to do well" or just the last chance for the franchise overall and I was wondering about how do you guys feel about these statements?

For me personally, I do get a bit annoyed when these statements are constantly made.  I mean sure, I know that the franchise has been a bit of a hit or miss when it comes to the games and Sonic Forces wasn't the best Sonic game we had, but it's like some of these people are saying that if Sonic Frontiers or any other Sonic game after that fails, then that's the end of the franchise and I just don't believe that.  Against all odds, this franchise has managed to stay afloat despite having some terrible games and I feel like that even if Sonic Frontiers does do badly (and I really hope that doesn't happen), the franchise will still keep going regardless (unless the next few games are not doing well in the sales).  However, if the statement is worded like "this is Sonic Team's last chance to make a good Sonic game," then I can understand it from that angle since it's Sonic Team who are the ones who are making the games and if they bomb on this next game, then SEGA will just replace the crew working on the games.

[Zaysho]

I've been on the Internet side of things with Sonic since I was 15 with Sonic Heroes' pre-release hype. I have never heard this in my life.

When I read a statement like that though, it sounds more so like someone just being more cautious about a new game after the series' various screw-ups, which sounds fair?

[Rabbitearsblog]

16 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

I've been on the Internet side of things with Sonic since I was 15 with Sonic Heroes' pre-release hype. I have never heard this in my life.

When I read a statement like that though, it sounds more so like someone just being more cautious about a new game after the series' various screw-ups, which sounds fair?

I guess I can understand people's concerns about the newest Sonic game, especially since for the last decade, the Sonic games haven't been in the best position.  But I guess I see this statement sounding like "if the next Sonic game doesn't do well, then the franchise is dead," which I don't see this franchise dying anytime soon.  But then again, that statement could mean that for the person making that statement, they will leave the franchise if the newest Sonic game doesn't do well.  So, I guess it all depends on how you see that statement or what that person meant by that statement.

[Zaysho]

It's not really about it "doing well" as it is about the product actually being good. And when you're in a position of just not enjoying whatever is offered with Sonic, it seems fair to just not want to bother anymore. The series weathers all sorts of fuck-ups, and as products Sega expects people to buy, people can make a decision on what to do with their money. And it's somewhat irrelevant when people like me aren't their real target demographic anyway, it's kids. Sonic will be fine.

[Diogenes]

It's kind of tiring. Not so much because I'm tired of hearing all the doom and gloom (I mean I'm not exactly reveling in it, but like, I get it), but because the series has limped its way through so many mistakes at this point. It feels like people are trying to frame it as some big epic event, "this is their last chance, they'll have to pull out all the stops, it's life or death", but in reality it's more likely to just be the same tired trudge. Maybe the game will be decent and we can all celebrate for a moment, but that doesn't mean Sega isn't at risk of falling right back into the same mistakes (or finding all new ones somehow) with future games. Maybe it'll be bad, but it probably won't be so devastatingly bad that it straight up kills the series, when '06 and RoL didn't. Either way we'll argue about it for a few months and then go back to waiting for the next one to be announced, maybe a few fans lighter.

When the series does eventually die, I imagine it'll be a whimper, not a roar. The low quality and inconsistency will keep driving people away, leading to less care and attention, driving more people away, until it's eventually just not worth it and they just stop making new stuff.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I feel like I’ve heard it before, and it wasn’t true the last number of times they said it even if that realization came over the course of years of hindsight. After Sonic 06 failed to do Sonic in after coming right off the back of ShTH, that it’s not as likely to happen as people like to think.

At this point, it’s just me watching people overreact—not that it excuses the poor quality and execution of ideas in the games. But after having already seen and been through worse, I’ve come to accept that things not going well isn’t going to be the end of Sonic anytime soon.

[Rabbitearsblog]

5 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

I feel like I’ve heard it before, and it wasn’t true the last number of times they said it even if that realization came over the course of years of hindsight. After Sonic 06 failed to do Sonic in after coming right off the back of ShTH, that it’s not as likely to happen as people like to think.

At this point, it’s just me watching people overreact—not that it excuses the poor quality and execution of ideas in the games. But after having already seen and been through worse, I’ve come to accept that things not going well isn’t going to be the end of Sonic anytime soon.

I feel the same way.  I think that some people that think that the Sonic games having poor quality means that the franchise is going to tank might be overacting a bit.  The only way I can see the franchise actually tanking for good is if the next few Sonic games don't earn back enough money for SEGA to make more Sonic games and so far, even though each Sonic game for the past few years are not in the best quality, they are still selling well despite that.

[Kazhnuz]

I honestly find that funny, because of how much I've seen that since I arrived in the fandom. People like the idea of "it's the last chance", because it's dramatic, it's more "cool" of if the game can fail and be just "one another not-perfect game in the IP".

Now if people say that it's the game last chance to please them, well it's all fair game, and anybody can decide that another bad game is too much for them.

[charmsb]

5 hours ago, Kazhnuz said:

I honestly find that funny, because of how much I've seen that since I arrived in the fandom. People like the idea of "it's the last chance", because it's dramatic, it's more "cool" of if the game can fail and be just "one another not-perfect game in the IP".

Now if people say that it's the game last chance to please them, well it's all fair game, and anybody can decide that another bad game is too much for them.

This basically.

There's always gonna be waves of kids coming in to keep the franchise alive, then they grow up and realize things suck and dip. But then they get replaced by more kids. Sonic is just too appealing on a surface level to really fail, despite the bad games.

Long time fans though... I have a feeling this is genuinely the last chance for Sonic Team to keep them. Unless they are the type to blindly accept what is given to them despite its obvious lack of quality. Though, I guess that calls into question what "keep" really means; like, actually buying the game? I'm sure many are already watching their wallets after, like, Lost World.

There's plenty of fan projects doing much better and the fangame scene is booming in popularity to a point where bigger and bigger projects are becoming more feasible. I'd say I've already "given up". Frontiers doesn't look good and I'm just waiting for Sonic 2 and Sonic Utopia.

[Wraith]

A lot of disappointed Sonic fans fantasize about the IP having some kind of closure or them hitting some kind of breaking point and turning things around but it's never going to happen. He'll be here after you're dead, and he'll probably still be dropping 6s. If that.

You can make it stop whenever you want by disengaging with it, but that takes self control. They don't have that, so they dream about Sonic pulling the plug for them instead.

[Rabbitearsblog]

1 hour ago, charmsb said:

There's plenty of fan projects doing much better and the fangame scene is booming in popularity to a point where bigger and bigger projects are becoming more feasible. I'd say I've already "given up". Frontiers doesn't look good and I'm just waiting for Sonic 2 and Sonic Utopia.

But, what if the next Sonic game is actually good?  Will long time fans come back to the franchise at that point?

[Kazhnuz]

It depends of if it's good "for them" too, or if it's a "good Sonic game" for them. What is a good game for some can be a bad game for other. Especially in Sonic where we can have different vision of what is a Sonic game. If Sonic Frontiers is "good" (not glitchy, interesting gameplay loop, story that is decent) but doesn't fit the criteria, it might be uninteresting for said fans.

[Rabbitearsblog]

7 hours ago, Kazhnuz said:

It depends of if it's good "for them" too, or if it's a "good Sonic game" for them. What is a good game for some can be a bad game for other. Especially in Sonic where we can have different vision of what is a Sonic game. If Sonic Frontiers is "good" (not glitchy, interesting gameplay loop, story that is decent) but doesn't fit the criteria, it might be uninteresting for said fans.

Yeah, everyone has different opinions about how the Sonic franchise should go and not everyone is going to be satisfied with whatever game is coming out, whether its good or bad.  Even if Sonic Frontiers does well, there will be some fans that won't like the open world setting of the game.

[batson]

Thinking that any one specific Sonic product being bad is enough to kill the franchise seems naive at this point. If Sonic 06 and Rise of Lyrics didn't kill Sonic, no one product is going to.

Sonic's true superpower isn't his speed, it's his ability to keep being popular despite starring in garbage over and over again. Bruce the shark ("Jaws") didn't have this power, so after three bad sequels his franchise was dead and never revived despite the original movie being litteraly the biggest movie in the world at the time. Nowaday's Bruce sits and home and looks at Sonic and thinks "What does he have that I didn't have?". I don't know the answer to that question, but it's definitely something.

[Dr. Mechano]

Yeah, if anything I wish the stakes were that high.

Sonic Team facing actual financial consequences for their awful games might be the shock to their system that they need to get their act together and start making better products. But no, Sonic coasts by on pure marketability, quality be damned. And it's likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future, as a good chunk of this franchise's audience care more about the spectacle and characters than gameplay - and as long as Sonic runs fast and says a few cool one-liners, they don't really care how good the games themselves are. Or at least, they don't care enough to not keep buying them every time.

[Rabbitearsblog]

4 hours ago, Dr. Mechano said:

Yeah, if anything I wish the stakes were that high.

Sonic Team facing actual financial consequences for their awful games might be the shock to their system that they need to get their act together and start making better products. But no, Sonic coasts by on pure marketability, quality be damned. And it's likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future, as a good chunk of this franchise's audience care more about the spectacle and characters than gameplay - and as long as Sonic runs fast and says a few cool one-liners, they don't really care how good the games themselves are. Or at least, they don't care enough to not keep buying them every time.

It would be interesting to see what happens if the Sonic brand doesn't sell as well as it used to.  Would this lead to SEGA and Sonic Team making a bigger effort to improve the brand or will they just abandon the brand and focus on their other games?