Sonic Frontiers has been a longer time coming than the typical Sonic game. Where it was once normal for new mainline titles starring the blue blur to come out on almost a yearly basis, it’s been close to five years since the last one, Sonic Forces, did. Luckily for impatient fans, the first open-world (or “open-zone” as Sega calls it) Sonic game appears to be on track to arrive on schedule this holiday season, despite the concerns many fans have had lately.

The leadup to the release of Sonic Frontiers has been interesting, to say the least. To say more than a few fans have been confused by Sonic Frontiers’ marketing would also be accurate. The first gameplay footage that Sega released was met with a mixed reception, coming off to many fans as a tad unpolished, even unfinished in some regards. This has led to debate over whether the game would be better off getting delayed to 2023 like a growing number of major open-world games that have already been pushed back.

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Sega clearly doesn’t think so, however, because in a recent financial briefing, Sega Sammy execs Koichi Fukazawa and Makoto Takahashi touched upon the question of delaying Sonic Frontiers and stated frankly, “We do not consider postponing the launch at this point.” That said, they stress that Sega intends to incorporate as much fan feedback as possible “within the development timeline.”

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This latest statement echoes Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka, who in June addressed the concerns over the game’s seeming lack of polish and stressed that those who are worried just don’t understand Sonic Frontiers’ gameplay yet. With that in mind, it seems that Sega is confident enough in the state of the game to commit to it launching before the year’s out.

Of course, it’s understandable for fans to be worried regardless. The disastrous launches for high-profile games like Cyberpunk 2077 have left many gamers once bitten, twice shy towards any game that looks like it could come out another unfinished mess, and at this point mentioning Sonic’s own history of subpar game launches has become something of a cliche. But then again, Sega is hoping Sonic Frontiers will get high review scores from critics, and that’s not likely to happen if the company forces the game out before it’s ready.

With a brand new open world to explore, upgraded combat mechanics, and the involvement of fan-favorite Sonic comic writer Ian Flynn, Sonic Frontiers does have the ingredients of a major hit for the franchise. Sega certainly believes it’s got a winner in the making, and hopefully it will be proven correct. At any rate, fans will get their next look at how the game is progressing when Sonic Frontiers is shown off at Gamescom later this month.

Sonic Frontiers will launch this holiday season for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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Source: VGC