It's been pretty quiet about Sonic. E3 reveal possible?

[Sharky]

If they do a WiiU version I hope it's the same game with graphical downgrades when necessary, no need for a gimped version like in the past. If it has to be gimped that much that they need to build a new game then fuck it... Don't do it. Put 100% effort into making the main game perfect.

[CrazyT]

We'll probably get a new Sonic game this year or early next year. Iizuka already confirmed Sonic is staying on consoles and I'd imagine its PS4/Xbox One and maybe Wii U.

Maybe huh. Is this implying that SEGA would assume that ps4 or even xbox one would have better sales potenial than the wii u for the type of sonic game they would anounce? Seems to me that this type of game would never be a "maybe" for the wii u. I think skylanders does better on nintendo platforms for example

[Aki-at]

Maybe huh. Is this implying that SEGA would assume that ps4 or even xbox one would have better sales potenial than the wii u for the type of sonic game they would anounce? Seems to me that this type of game would never be a "maybe" for the wii u. I think skylanders does better on nintendo platforms for example

What sale potential on the Wii U? The best selling Nintendo game on the Wii U is Mario Kart which is just shy of 5 million. That should indicate the sort of ceiling that a third party game will hit with the Wii U. Skylanders only sold best on Nintendo platforms because last generation Nintendo platforms were the best selling consoles. This gen only the handheld is which has been superseded by tablets/phones.

I'm not saying for sure that a Wii U version will not be released, but it might not be a priority for SEGA either. Focusing on a market that will have 30 million+ users or the market with 9 million+ users? I know which would be the safer option, especially since LEGO games and the like do sell well on the PS4 and Xbox One.
People act like the Playstation 4 and Xbox One only has an adult audience but then titles like the

[TimmiT]

Since Colours, Sonic games are usually revealed in April or May. So far Sonic Boom has been the exception. So expect it to be announced during the next month or a half or so.

[CrazyT]

What sale potential on the Wii U? The best selling Nintendo game on the Wii U is Mario Kart which is just shy of 5 million. That should indicate the sort of ceiling that a third party game will hit with the Wii U. Skylanders only sold best on Nintendo platforms because last generation Nintendo platforms were the best selling consoles. This gen only the handheld is which has been superseded by tablets/phones.

I'm not saying for sure that a Wii U version will not be released, but it might not be a priority for SEGA either. Focusing on a market that will have 30 million+ users or the market with 9 million+ users? I know which would be the safer option, especially since LEGO games and the like do sell well on the PS4 and Xbox One.
People act like the Playstation 4 and Xbox One only has an adult audience but then titles like the

I dont really get what you're saying. 30m+ users as in xbox one and ps4 combined? And 9m+ wii u only users? Why combine the former 2 and divide them from the Wii U? Whats wrong with a 40million userbase of which 10 million are accustomed and like this sort of title?

[Aki-at]

I dont really get what you're saying. 30m+ users as in xbox one and ps4 combined? And 9m+ wii u only users? Why combine the former 2 and divide them from the Wii U? Whats wrong with a 40million userbase of which 10 million are accustomed and like this sort of title?

Few reasons why;

1. Firstly both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One share similar architect, whilst the Wii U is completely different from the two. You could even throw in a PC version with little to no headache.
2. You should be aiming for similar level of graphics and/or technical specification between the two consoles. If the Playstation 4 is the lead platform you should be able to port it easily to PC/Xbox One without much of a hitch. Whilst if the Wii U is the main platform, we'd be unable to use all that extra power.
3. In the long run, both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One are going to have a much longer shelf life than the Wii U.
4. As pointed out before, if a game like Mario Kart, which sold upwards of 30 million last gen, is going to severely contract to 5 million sales, how much do you think Sonic would even with a fairly decent game?
5. Of course, SEGA could do what they did with Unleashed and develop a Wii U exclusive version, but the console just does not have the userbase to justify such a decision.

So as I said, this is a maybe.

[SuperSonicEX]

there is a better case in having a 3DS version instead of Wii U...of course Dimps would probably be the ones developing that.

[Aki-at]

there is a better case in having a 3DS version instead of Wii U...of course Dimps would probably be the ones developing that.

Oh yeah totally agree with that idea and not so strangely enough, the best selling version for Lost World and Sonic Boom was the Nintendo 3DS version. I think regardless of which console, Dimps will be developing the Nintendo exclusive version of the game.

[CrazyT]

Few reasons why;

1. Firstly both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One share similar architect, whilst the Wii U is completely different from the two. You could even throw in a PC version with little to no headache.
2. You should be aiming for similar level of graphics and/or technical specification between the two consoles. If the Playstation 4 is the lead platform you should be able to port it easily to PC/Xbox One without much of a hitch. Whilst if the Wii U is the main platform, we'd be unable to use all that extra power.

solid reason

3. In the long run, both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One are going to have a much longer shelf life than the Wii U.
4. As pointed out before, if a game like Mario Kart, which sold upwards of 30 million last gen, is going to severely contract to 5 million sales, how much do you think Sonic would even with a fairly decent game?
5. Of course, SEGA could do what they did with Unleashed and develop a Wii U exclusive version, but the console just does not have the userbase to justify such a decision.

So as I said, this is a maybe.

These really say nothing to me. Ive seen shelf space only increase in the last year. Mentioning mario kart sales going down really doesnt seem relevent do the decision despite 5 million being a great number.

 And for 5 thats gonna depend on how ambitious the next sonic game will be. Also still plenty of cross gen games that look good relative to the platform.

We also spoke about lego, skylanders etc which are much better indicator. I guess it is reasonable to think maybe as in there's no certainty. I mean maybe there wont be a game at all. Maybe its exclusive to ps4 alone. Maybe another wii u exclusive.

Personally though I think skipping a wii u version based of lost world would seem like a conclusion expected from a SEGA. I hope they dont forget about blaming anything besides the wii u's performance. Because another average game will certainly again not meet expectations

[Aki-at]

These really say nothing to me. Ive seen shelf space only increase in the last year. Mentioning mario kart sales going down really doesnt seem relevent do the decision despite 5 million being a great number.

That's all really anecdotal to me too though. I've seen shelf space decrease massively for the Wii U, yeah sure it's still in your local game store but what about supermarkets? I see almost no Wii U presence in almost all major supermarkets.

Besides that comment was merely indicating the Wii U doesn't have much long to live whilst the Playstation 4 and Xbox One probably have just over 5 years left before a replacement is released.

Finally the 5 million is a great number, but is it a great number when you overlook its predecessor did 35 million. What it should illustrate however is that there has been a sales collapse, why wouldn't Sonic's sales collapse just like every other major Nintendo seeing declining sales from previous installments? It certainly indicates to me that the collapse for the series sales is not just down to critical acclaim but the platform itself being extremely toxic.

And for 5 thats gonna depend on how ambitious the next sonic game will be. Also still plenty of cross gen games that look good relative to the platform.

There's more to technical specifications than how good something looks. There's all the processing and as we saw with Sonic: Lost World, SEGA had to drop the graphics down a few notches to get 60 fps. The extra power just helps them get around issues much easier rather than optimizing the game as much as they use to in the past.

We also spoke about lego, skylanders etc which are much better indicator. I guess it is reasonable to think maybe as in there's no certainty. I mean maybe there wont be a game at all. Maybe its exclusive to ps4 alone. Maybe another wii u exclusive.

Most of those games sold best on the Xbox 360. Really it's going to come down to which console is the best selling platform and that honour will fall onto the Playstation 4. Sonic Heroes most successful platform was the PS2 despite there already being a strong fanbase on the Gamecube but it was 4 million on the PS2 and 2 million on the Gamecube. The same, long term, will happen here. The issue is the Gamecube was doing better than the Wii U and the hardware really wasn't leaps and bound ahead.

Personally though I think skipping a wii u version based of lost world would seem like a conclusion expected from a SEGA. I hope they dont forget about blaming anything besides the wii u's performance. Because another average game will certainly again not meet expectations

Skipping the Wii U, if they do, will be down to the factors I mentioned. The console is not known for good sales and although titles like Mario Kart have done well, titles like Destiny, WatchDog, FIFA etc all eclipse it on the PS4 I'm sure, and future titles like Batman will do so too.

I'm not sure it's a foregone conclusion, but SEGA and every major third party has more than enough reason to skip the Wii U if they want to. We had Alien: Isolation ready for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and yet that game didn't come to the Wii U.

[Berto]

I'm not sure it's a foregone conclusion, but SEGA and every major third party has more than enough reason to skip the Wii U if they want to. We had Alien: Isolation ready for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and yet that game didn't come to the Wii U.

I kinda agree with it. I think Wii U only has a little more than 2 years left in its 5 year life span.
SEGA and Ubisoft are the only two developer that stuck around longer than most other publishers.

But now look what's happened. SEGA's Tembo skipped WiiU and Ubisoft even refuses to release their finished game now.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/39611/unreleased-finished-wii-u-game-from-ubisoft-revealed

Expect new Nintendo's console in 2018.

[George]

The thing is,  this is a long time coming.  Nintendo consoles are on the way out and I don't think the next one will do much better.  People want Nintendo to have a comparable console with a focus on online and good ui. Nintendo already said the next Nintendo console one upgrade the specs cuz the consumer wants a new experience. To me it seems like Nintendo is done with the hardcore and want to recapture a casual market that had moved on to mobile.

[Nirmugen]

Well, they will need to reutlize all the parts from the WiiU Gamepad,so...maybe that Nintendo NX could be nothing more than a tablet with a wireless receptor and buttons.

For the next Sonic game annoucement , it could be this 2 months or E3 if there are no news whatsoever until 2nd week of May...

[CrazyT]

That's all really anecdotal to me too though. I've seen shelf space decrease massively for the Wii U, yeah sure it's still in your local game store but what about supermarkets? I see almost no Wii U presence in almost all major supermarkets.

Besides that comment was merely indicating the Wii U doesn't have much long to live whilst the Playstation 4 and Xbox One probably have just over 5 years left before a replacement is released.

Finally the 5 million is a great number, but is it a great number when you overlook its predecessor did 35 million. What it should illustrate however is that there has been a sales collapse, why wouldn't Sonic's sales collapse just like every other major Nintendo seeing declining sales from previous installments? It certainly indicates to me that the collapse for the series sales is not just down to critical acclaim but the platform itself being extremely toxic.

I think you raise good points overall but the mario kart one seems kind of an unfair and unreasonable in the context of this discussion. That would be like me saying that the attach rate is reason to say that despite the small installbase games still sell well on wii U. My point basically, no other nintendo console reached wii's grand succes which obviously inflated software numbers alot. The fact its sold 5 million on a 10 million installbase is still phenomenal. Chance that it may exceed gamecube's mario kart when all's said and done on a smaller installbase. 35 million was an insane number bruh.

Overall very interesting read guys. I would be very surprised seeing sonic get skipped on wii u. I always felt like everything should be possible with the wii u compared to for example why sonic generations did skip the wii because of power. Either way honestly, having argued all this, im mostly hoping for a pc version to happen, but wouldnt mind some positive news for a console I appreciate. Id definitly double dip in that case

[SuperSonicEX]

I kinda agree with it. I think Wii U only has a little more than 2 years left in its 5 year life span.
SEGA and Ubisoft are the only two developer that stuck around longer than most other publishers.

But now look what's happened. SEGA's Tembo skipped WiiU and Ubisoft even refuses to release their finished game now.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/39611/unreleased-finished-wii-u-game-from-ubisoft-revealed

Expect new Nintendo's console in 2018.

I think Bandai Namco stuck around as well even if we don't include Smash Bros. 4  Though I don't think the next console will be in 2018, more like 2017.  I suspect that the recent Zelda delay has something to do with it.