The director of Sonic Frontiers, Morio Kishimoto, has stated that he feels that adding more playable characters is "crucial" to future releases. This comes shortly after the release of Sonic Frontiers' 2023 content roadmap three DLC updates coming to all players for free later this year. The third planned update is set to add new playable characters to the game's roster beyond just Sonic the Hedgehog himself. It seems the new era of the franchise that Sonic Frontiers is ringing in is also marking the end of Sonic-only games.Fans are understandably excited about this change. Sonic fans made "new playable characters" trend on Twitter when Sonic Frontiers' DLC was announced, as it's a welcome shift since the entire reason Sega doubled down on having only Sonic playable was due to a vocal minority insisting that they didn't like Sonic's friends a decade ago. However, things have notably changed, and one fan went to Kishimoto on Twitter to ask if new playable characters could be expected beyond Frontiers' last DLC update.Kishimoto responded very eagerly to the fans' question, stating "I think adding more playable characters is a crucial step in the third generation." While referring to a "third generation" may confuse fans, Sonic Team has stated before that the studio considers Sonic Frontiers as the start of the "third generation" of the franchise; seeing the latest release as the foundation for the next decade's worth of titles.
While Kishimoto's tweet can be translated by Twitter itself, a more reliable translation was given by Twitter user @SuperMightyBigL that emphasizes just how much Kishimoto believes that playing as Sonic's friends is necessary to help the series grow. It also tells fans that the new playable DLC characters Sonic Frontiers plans to add will most likely be playable in the next release as well. This means less work for Sonic Team as these gameplay styles were made prior, which means the wait between games might not be as long as the wait between Forces and Frontiers.
As Kishimoto's been enthusiastically answering fans' questions and taking fan feedback, Sega has created internal teams to stabilize the Sonic brand like never before, including a lore team. This is to make sure important story beats like Dr. Eggman having a heart behind his evil deeds will remain between releases and be made consistent across the games, comics, and even shows like Sonic Prime.
It's a rather exciting time to be a Sonic fan as series loyalists have more of the Netflix show, more comics, and new in-game content to look forward to all-throughout 2023. With how Sonic Frontiers was reported to sell 2.5 million copies as of last December, it seems the series will continue to speed farther ahead.
Sonic Frontiers is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.