Following Sega’s decision to change its approach to developing new games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, fans were left ultimately disappointed that after hyping up Sonic the Hedgehog's 30th anniversary for months, all the publisher revealed about the next mainline game in the iconic series was a 30-second teaser of the blue blur doing what he does best - running. This blow was made worse by the controversial release of Sonic Colors: Ultimate. Sonic fans may be looking to end 2021 on a high note however, as recent evidence indicates that the next Sonic game, currently dubbed "Sonic Frontiers," could be appearing at The Game Awards later this week.
After the release of Sonic Forces in 2017, which was heavily criticized for underwhelming game design and an incoherent narrative, Sonic Team decided that it would take more time developing the next Sonic game and use the longer development schedule to explore how the game could define the next decade of Sonic titles. As a result of this, the developer has remained tight-lipped regarding the next main entry in the series for over four years now, not even revealing the game's title.
This didn't stop multiple sources from coming forward shortly after the project's reveal in May of this year, revealing that Sega had conducted playtests for the game in 2020. These sources, spread across multiple internet forums such as 4Chan and Reddit, claimed that the game was set in an open-world and featured gameplay segments reminiscent of Sonic Adventure. These leaks, some of which originated from 2020, were backed up by the fact that they all referred to the game as "Sonic Rangers," a title Sega would later reference in a press release.
It appears that the game has been renamed however as fans have discovered that Sega has registered the domain for a website referencing the title "Sonic Frontiers," a title the publisher also trademarked back in November. This seems to confirm that not only is this intended to be the title of the game, but a reveal of it may be imminent. Following this, users of r/GamingLeaksAndRumors have discovered that a recent update to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise page on Steam mentions that there are now 35 games in the franchise on the digital storefront, however, currently only 34 games are listed. This implies that the game's page and possibly pre-orders are ready to go.
All of this information circulating in quick succession seems to imply that Sonic Frontiers could make an appearance at The Game Awards, a show that Sega is no stranger to, as the company has previously used The Game Awards to showcase titles such as Humankind and Persona 5 Strikers. Hopefully the Steam page going live could also implicate an early 2022 release window for the game too, however it seems fans will have to wait and see for now.
Sonic Frontiers is currently in development for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Reddit