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Sonic Mania 2 Is Said to Have Been Scrapped Internally at Sega

IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
comicbook.com

Sonic Mania 2 Is Said to Have Been Scrapped Internally at Sega

Sonic Mania originally launched back in 2017, and by all accounts, was a massive success for Sega [...]
comicbook.com comicbook.com

In a recent blog by a video game industry insider that goes by the name Zippo, it was said that Sega had scrapped plans for a Sonic Mania sequel internally in the years since the first game's release. Zippo explained that the reason for this seems to have been due to a clash of some sort between Sega and Evening Star Studios. The blog in question didn't get into too many specifics about what happened here, but it did state that Sega of America was the division of Sega that proved to be the problem. Zippo claimed that Sega of America management was "extremely unreasonable", leading to a "break up" between the publisher and Evening Star.

Within the past month, Evening Star has gone on to reveal that it is now working on a wholly original "3D action platformer", which all but confirms that the studio likely isn't making Sonic Mania 2 at this point in time. And while we might never know all of the specifics about what happened between those at Sega and Evening Star, it's absolutely a bummer that the two entities seemingly won't be working together again on the highly-requested sequel.
 
nush

nush

Member
The Shepard said:
Are Sega bat shit crazy!?
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(HiFiGIF.cc)_the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-james-franco-first-time-small.gif
 
STARSBarry

STARSBarry

Gold Member
I really want to know what the unreasonable demands from SEGA of America where, I'm going to assume it would be to connect the story to some shitty main project...
 
B

BattleScar

Member
I wouldn't place too much stock into what this "Zippo" says. Not sure I've heard of him or anything he's leaked before.

Also, I would rather sega scrap Mania 2 if the developers want to do something else, than to tarnish the image of that series by phoning it in using some other shitter development team.
They did that with Sonic 4 already and they'd be retarded to do it again
 
Kiddo Cabbusses

Kiddo Cabbusses

Member
Of course, Sega is exactly the company you need if you want to screw up a surefire success.

What the heck could they had been demanding, considering the devs managed to do so well with Sonic Mania when it was already a somewhat compromised vision of what they had in mind?
 
SF Kosmo

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
The Shepard said:
Are Sega bat shit crazy!? Best sonic game since the megadrive and the scrap the sequel, makes no sense.
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So I don't know exactly what went down with Mania 2 but I have talked to someone who worked on Mania 1 and I can speak to a few things that might surprise people. Sega always treated Mania like a bastard child.

1. It was never Sega's baby. That game was the result of a fan made pitch demo and someone that advocated really hard for it. Sega of Japan never wanted it and Sonic Team supposedly kind of resented it.

2. It got ZERO support. Sega didn't even assign them a producer. They were a first time dev left completely on their own, and Sega did nothing to help.

3. It barely got done. Development was not smooth. A lot of shit got cut and there were a lot of sleepless nights getting what was there in shape.

4. They got a VERY SHITTY deal. They did not get royalties from the game's success. They were paid like contractors and not well. It was a passion projects and a dream if theirs to work on the Sonic franchise and Sega took advantage of them.

Based on the comments I would guess #4 is the sticking point. They probably wanted fair pay and a piece of the title's success and Sega probably wanted them to work for slave wages and own nothing again like they did the first time.
 
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SF Kosmo

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
BattleScar said:
I wouldn't place too much stock into what this "Zippo" says. Not sure I've heard of him or anything he's leaked before.

Also, I would rather sega scrap Mania 2 if the developers want to do something else, than to tarnish the image of that series by phoning it in using some other shitter development team.
They did that with Sonic 4 already and they'd be retarded to do it again
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It wouldn't shock me to see them hire another dev team to do Mania 2, the first game's success was too big to ignore. But I don't think many people could do it justice. Probably not Dimps, who are hit or miss and need a good babysitter.

The only ones I think might be able to do it are M2, who are just excellent copycats and have developed some masterpiece retro titles like GG Aleste 3, Gracias ReBirth, and Fantasy Zone II DX. They've already reverse engineered Sonic for a couple releases and might be able to pull something off.
 
alf717

alf717

Member
Wow this is some crazy stuff being said here. A Sonic Mania 2 would of been great to see. Even though the first game borrow a lot from previous titles it was still a breath of fresh air and it felt just like if not better than the original 2D titles.
 
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Saber

Saber

Member
If this rumor end up being true, well it wouldn't surprised me.

The first thing people can note is that Mania was a sucess over a "veteran" in making "bad" Sonic games. I dunno whats is wrong with Sega, but they seems to not care one bit if Sonic Team manages to develop a decent game or not.

If Sonic Team has this "influence" over Sega that would explain. I mean, a team of competent fans being better than them? Sonic Team must had being pretty pissed.
 
SF Kosmo

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Saber said:
If this rumor end up being true, well it wouldn't surprised me.

The first thing people can note is that Mania was a sucess over a "veteran" in making "bad" Sonic games. I dunno whats is wrong with Sega, but they seems to not care one bit if Sonic Team manages to develop a decent game or not.

If Sonic Team has this "influence" over Sega that would explain. I mean, a team of competent fans being better than them? Sonic Team must had being pretty pissed.
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I don't know that Sonic Team was necessarily "jealous" of the title being good the way some paint it but I think Iizuka felt kind of "stepped over" as the series producer when the game got greenlit largely without his involvement. Which would be much more understandable if he was not terrible at his job.

To be honest, I think Sega made the game just because it cost next to nothing. So if it blew up, it was a negligible write off.
 
Sub_Level

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Not even mad if true. Sonic Mania felt like closure & a nice 'Greatest Hits' sendoff to the series. If we get another Mania game then great; will be there day 1. If we don't, then that is fine too.
 
Fake

Fake

Gold Member
SF Kosmo said:
I don't know that Sonic Team was necessarily "jealous" of the title being good the way some paint it but I think Iizuka felt kind of "stepped over" as the series producer when the game got greenlit largely without his involvement. Which would be much more understandable if he was not terrible at his job.

To be honest, I think Sega made the game just because it cost next to nothing. So if it blew up, it was a negligible write off.
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If you read the article they mention that SEGA give 'no money and director' over Sonic Mania, but happily Izuka appears in that fluffy Sonic Mania dev video making impression of some sort of cooperation. That expression of some accomplishiment, but in fact none was done to help Taxman team.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Gold Member
Understandable, 2 good Sonic games in a row just isn't allowed these days.

Sega is required by Japanese law to be like:
Cant Stand It Paramount Network GIF by Yellowstone
 
SF Kosmo

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Fake said:
If you read the article they mention that SEGA give 'no money and director' over Sonic Mania, but happily Izuka appears in that fluffy Sonic Mania dev video making impression of some sort of cooperation. That expression of some accomplishiment, but in fact none was done to help Taxman team.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I mean literally nothing and they really needed it. It's a small miracle that the game got done. Even internally on the team there was a lot of conflict from what I heard.
 
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yurinka

yurinka

Member
If true they must fire anyone in Sega involved on scrapping this game. And to prioritize Sonic Mania 2 over any other Sonic game projects. Sonic Mania is the best Sonic game ever made since Mega Drive and Mega CD, so it's the path to follow and not the bad 3D games.
 
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Saber

Saber

Member
SF Kosmo said:
I don't know that Sonic Team was necessarily "jealous" of the title being good the way some paint it but I think Iizuka felt kind of "stepped over" as the series producer when the game got greenlit largely without his involvement. Which would be much more understandable if he was not terrible at his job.

To be honest, I think Sega made the game just because it cost next to nothing. So if it blew up, it was a negligible write off.
Click to expand...

If what you said is indeed true(Sega did not for them), then that means Iizuka only wanted his name there for some easy credit and has not actually any much of involvement with this game outside steeping over once completed.

The more these rumors come up the more I believe this has some connection with Ruby Eclipse.
 
SF Kosmo

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Saber said:
If what you said is indeed true(Sega did not for them), then that means Iizuka only wanted his name there for some easy credit and has not actually any much of involvement with this game outside steeping over once completed.

The more these rumors come up the more I believe this has some connection with Ruby Eclipse.
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I can't really personally say how Iizuka did or didn't feel about the project, but I can say he had nothing to do with its direction or development. Sega checked out milestones and sent back a few notes, but that's really it.
yurinka said:
If true they must fire anyone in Sega involved on scrapping this game. And to prioritize Sonic Mania 2 over any other Sonic game projects. Sonic Mania is the best Sonic game ever made since Mega Drive and Mega CD, so it's the path to follow and not the bad 3D games.
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Sonic Mania's value extends so much beyond the actual sales of the game, too. Like it uplifted the brand. People started talking about old Sonic games more favorably after Mania came out. I think they're crazy not to follow it up.

That said, I think if they did want to do Mania 2, writing a blank check to Evening Star might not be the way to go about it. The first game DID have a lot of issues in development and they might need a hands-on producer and some external resources.
 
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yurinka

yurinka

Member
SF Kosmo said:
That said, I think if they did want to do Mania 2, writing a blank check to Evening Star might not be the way to go about it. The first game DID have a lot of issues in development and they might need a hands-on producer and some external resources.
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I don't know what issues it had, but Sonic Mania its way better than any Sonic games they made since the 16 bits. They proved they can make better Sonic games than the Sega/Dimps teams who worked on Sonic in the recent generations. So yes, I'd give them a blank check and I'd keep the Sega America noise out of the question and would allow them to report directly English speaking guys from Japan, as they did with Alex Kid, Streets of Rage 4 and so on.
 
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