If you have ever looked at Sonic’s growing pile of movies, Netflix series and other projects and wondered whether SEGA might be spending a little too much time away from the games, Takashi Iizuka has a pretty straightforward answer: the opposite is happening.
Speaking with AUTOMATON WEST at Tokyo Game Show 2026, the Sonic series general producer explained that the success of Sonic outside gaming is feeding back into the games themselves. The movies in particular have introduced Sonic to a much wider audience, some of whom then go on to buy the games, giving SEGA more resources to put into whatever Sonic Team makes next.
“Thanks to the movies, awareness of the Sonic series has grown, and more people around the world have become interested in Sonic as a character and in the games. That has contributed to game sales as well.”
And those extra sales do not just disappear into the corporate void.
“Strong game sales mean we have more resources available when making the next title, which allows us to deliver something of even higher quality. That creates a positive cycle.”
That last part lines up rather neatly with something else Iizuka says earlier in the interview. When asked why recent Sonic games have become more consistent in terms of review scores, he points directly to resources. During periods when the Sonic brand was struggling, SEGA simply had less money to put into individual games. Now that the franchise is stronger, teams are larger, more money can be invested, and staff can even move between projects when another title needs help hitting its quality and schedule targets.
Development itself has also become considerably more expensive and time-consuming. Iizuka says Sonic games that once took around two years to produce can now require three or even five years, forcing SEGA to keep several development lines running simultaneously if it wants to continue releasing Sonic titles regularly. The stronger brand has made that structure possible, with Iizuka saying SEGA can now invest more money into Sonic than it could under the old setup.
We have already seen just how long those modern projects can take. Sonic Frontiers spent around five years in development and went through repeated rounds of playtesting and experimentation before Sonic Team settled on its Open Zone formula. More recently, Iizuka confirmed that another unannounced Sonic game is already in development, while saying Sonic Team still sees room to push the series beyond the systems established by Frontiers.
And no, Paramount is apparently not borrowing Sonic Team programmers whenever it needs another hedgehog movie.
“We don’t use the game developers’ resources for transmedia projects, so you don’t have to worry about a new game being delayed because we’re making movies or anime.”
Iizuka says his own workload has certainly changed. Games remain his main job, and he is currently overseeing Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, SONIC PICO PARK and other unannounced titles, but films and the newly announced Netflix Sonic series now take up an increasing amount of his time. Apparently he still notices when he spends too long away from development, joking that he gets “a little depressed” if an entire day passes without doing any game work.
His role on those outside productions is also fairly specific. Iizuka does not try to tell Paramount whether a movie story is good or bad. Instead, he steps in to protect Sonic himself, advising when a character would not behave a certain way or when a design does not fit. With no existing template for a brand-new movie or animated production, AUTOMATON rather appropriately describes him as something of a “living guideline” for the franchise.
The movies have exceeded even SEGA’s expectations, according to Iizuka, and he says Netflix has made animation especially useful for expanding Sonic worldwide. Older television productions had to be negotiated and distributed market by market, something he recalls becoming a particular problem with Sonic Boom’s second season. A Netflix production can instead be launched globally from the beginning. Sonic City recently covered SEGA and Netflix’s new Sonic animated series aimed specifically at younger children, which will target preschoolers and younger elementary-school viewers rather than the audience of Sonic Prime or the movies.
SEGA has talked before about the movies accelerating the Sonic brand. Back in 2023, the company credited the first two films with helping grow the franchise while Sonic Frontiers brought in new players. Iizuka’s new comments fill in the other side of that strategy: bigger movies bring more people to Sonic, some of those people buy the games, stronger game sales unlock more development resources, and those resources can then be used to make the next games better.
So if you were worried that Sonic’s Hollywood career was stealing time and money from Sonic Team, Iizuka’s version of events is basically the reverse. The movies are helping make the games a bigger business, and that gives the developers more to work with when it is time to build the next one.
Stay tuned to Sonic City for more Sonic News and Updates!
Discover more from Sonic City ⋆★ Sonic the Hedgehog News, Media, & Community ★⋆
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
