Throughout Sonic's 35-year history, the game franchise has had its ups and downs, and according to series's creative officer, Takashi Iizuka, in a recent interview with One More Game, the executives at Sega had been urging him to cancel the franchise entirely, before the launch of the 2020 Sonic live-action movie. There had been good times, and there had been bad times… during the worst times, I was told by the higher-ups that we should cancel the entire franchise. I had to fight within the organization to keep the franchise as long as possible... The biggest milestone for me was the first movie…that had been a great hit and definitely changed the course of this franchise.

The executive goes on to explain that, while there is still a lot of Sonic media—TV series and movies—planned outside of video games, the franchise is still firmly rooted in its video game history. He also says that the success of the Sonic movie has opened his eyes to the potential for more story-driven Sonic games in the future. And for them [the movies and series], they put more emphasis on story. So in coming years, I really want to create some game that has more emphasis on story. He went on to explain that Sega has effectively split Sonic into two branches: One that appeals to modern fans, who perhaps came to Sonic from the movies, and another that appeals to those who remember and love the classic Sonic platformers. So we've been branching out in these two directions, and modern Sonic has more emphasis on the coolness of Sonic, and it has more appeal to the more recent fan base. We want to put that more emphasis on modern Sonic as well as the classic Sonic, which has been in front of the franchise from the beginning in 1991. And for the classic Sonic, we want to continue making things like the 2D platformers like Sonic Mania and Sonic Origins, which appeals to the fan base that has been with us from the very beginning.