Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka recently stated that Sonic Frontiers was a crucial experiment that would determine the future of the Sonic series. With the series' 35th anniversary approaching, he revisited the process behind adopting the open-world direction for this title.
Iizuka stated that he had hoped to create an open-world Sonic game about ten years ago, but the idea remained unrealized for a long time. Sonic's core experience involves running at high speeds along set paths, whereas open worlds require characters to move freely across expansive spaces, making the two concepts difficult to combine.
This contradiction reminded Iizuka of the difficulties encountered during the early development of Sonic Adventure. He worried that if Sonic were simply left in a vast space, the game wouldn't be fun, which delayed his decision to move forward with the open-world approach.
Following this, director Morio Kishimoto thoroughly studied the issue and proposed the concept of "open zones." Sonic Frontiers ultimately used open zones to facilitate exploration while retaining the series' emphasis on high-speed movement. Takashi Iizuka believes this title marked an important step forward for the series and will influence Sonic's future direction.
As news related to the series' 35th anniversary continues to be revealed, the official Sonic timeline has also been announced, with Sonic Classic Collection and Sonic Modern Collection previously confirmed. The open-zone direction established by Sonic Frontiers remains a key experiment highlighted by Takashi Iizuka when reflecting on the series' evolution.