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SEGA on the moment Sonic Lost World went Nintendo exclusive, future 3DS support, expanding the franchise userbase
A portion of a Nintendo Life interview with SEGA's Takashi Iizuka...
NL: At what point was it agreed that Sonic Lost World would be a Wii U and 3DS exclusive, and when did development start?
Takashi Iizuka: I think the timing we started thinking about Wii U was when Nintendo presented 3rd parties their prototype. Before then, we didn’t confirm the platform. And when Nintendo showed Wii U for the 1st time at E3 (2 years ago) we were developing the game on Wii U.
The development of Wii U was moving on first, but the console was not confirmed yet in the beginning and the development was based on PC first. The platform was confirmed after several levels in the beginning were made. 3DS development started after we already had the basic stage structure and main story of the Wii U version had been confirmed.
NL: With Sonic Generations seeing a 3DS release, and now Sonic Lost World, are you confident that the 3DS will remain part of the plans for new Sonic games?
Takashi Iizuka: We can’t confirm the future, but personally, I feel 3DS is a best console for kids to enjoy a game, and to those consumers, we hope to deliver Sonic titles in the future too.
NL: How happy are you with the current reputation and standing of the Sonic franchise with long-term and new fans?
Takashi Iizuka: Recently, in Japan, US, and UK, we have events held for Sonic Fans, and every year I attend the events also, we have fans that are very young to adults who are even older than me, and they are all coming to the event for Sonic which I’m very happy about. But we want to make Sonic known to those people who don’t play the games, so this is our next challenge!
Full interview here
NL: At what point was it agreed that Sonic Lost World would be a Wii U and 3DS exclusive, and when did development start?
Takashi Iizuka: I think the timing we started thinking about Wii U was when Nintendo presented 3rd parties their prototype. Before then, we didn’t confirm the platform. And when Nintendo showed Wii U for the 1st time at E3 (2 years ago) we were developing the game on Wii U.
The development of Wii U was moving on first, but the console was not confirmed yet in the beginning and the development was based on PC first. The platform was confirmed after several levels in the beginning were made. 3DS development started after we already had the basic stage structure and main story of the Wii U version had been confirmed.
NL: With Sonic Generations seeing a 3DS release, and now Sonic Lost World, are you confident that the 3DS will remain part of the plans for new Sonic games?
Takashi Iizuka: We can’t confirm the future, but personally, I feel 3DS is a best console for kids to enjoy a game, and to those consumers, we hope to deliver Sonic titles in the future too.
NL: How happy are you with the current reputation and standing of the Sonic franchise with long-term and new fans?
Takashi Iizuka: Recently, in Japan, US, and UK, we have events held for Sonic Fans, and every year I attend the events also, we have fans that are very young to adults who are even older than me, and they are all coming to the event for Sonic which I’m very happy about. But we want to make Sonic known to those people who don’t play the games, so this is our next challenge!