Even though the game’s Metacritic score currently sits at a lower score than they would have liked (ranging from 61-71 overall at the time of this writing), Sega Sammy Holdings executive vice president Makoto Takahashi and IR/SR general manager Nobuaki Yoshii revealed that Sonic Frontiers sales ‘greatly exceeded’ expectations.
“The number of units sold greatly exceeded our original estimation,” Sega said during a Q&A with investors last week (translated from Japanese by Tails Channel). “We will continue to sell over the long term based on sales strategies such as pricing, promotions, and the development of further DLC.”
Sega
Sega also noted that although the Metacritic score was lower than they would have hoped, the game was highly rated by fans and that they believe with future DLC content they can continue to drive sales for the game. They also believe that shows such as Sonic Prime on Netflix and an upcoming third Sonic film will continue to bolster both Sonic Frontiers sales and the Sonic franchise as a whole.
“It’s true that the Metacritic Score was slightly lower than we expected,” Sega explained, “but the user’s score was very high. With that, we believe we have found a title that is widely accepted by a lot of people around the world. It’s to be believed that we can build more repeat sales of Sonic Frontiers through pricing, discounts and the recently announced DLC. We plan to further promote the Sonic franchise in the future, such as the release of Sonic Prime, the third Sonic film, and merchandising opportunities.”
The fact that Sonic Frontiers sales ‘greatly exceeded’ expectations also bodes well for the next game in the Sonic franchise, whether it’s a direct sequel to Sonic Frontiers or something new, as Sega expects to development costs for future Sonic games to “grow even larger in the future.”
Sega
“We expect development costs for new titles to grow even larger in the future,” Sega continued. “We will strive to ensure solid quality in the development of major titles from our existing franchises. However, development labor costs will rise due to the impact of the global external environment, and we expect this trend to continue for the foreseeable future. Since it is necessary to take on these challenges for major titles, we are proceeding with a bigger budget, even from the basic research stage. Therefore, we assume that development costs for future new titles will increase accordingly.”
Are you surprised that Sonic Frontiers sales ‘greatly exceeded’ expectations? Are you looking forward to seeing what the next Sonic game will look like given that it is expected to have an even bigger budget and development costs than Sonic Frontiers? Let us know in the comments.
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