When the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise releases a game on console, sales figures often show an impressive turnout of loyal fans ready to support the series. Unfortunately, the same does not seem to be true for mobile releases, as the last five Sonic titles have made $8.7 million in revenue combined, while Sonic Dash, released in 2013, has made nearly $11 million on its own.
The five other titles include Sonic at the Olympic Games, Sonic Forces, Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom, Sonic Runners, and Sonic: Jump Fever. Interestingly, all these games share similar critical reception in terms of reviews, and yet they all pale in performance for revenue when compared to Sonic Dash. The only exception to this is that Sonic Racing is not included in the list, as it is currently part of the Apple Arcade subscription, and it is not possible at this time to quantify exactly how much revenue is brought in through that agreement.
The news is rather surprising given how popular the franchise has been for decades. On the other hand, the news sounds familiar when considering the trouble that Nintendo has had at times in translating its most popular brands to successful mobile titles. Super Mario Run, for example, has been well received by players, and yet was not considered a financial success by its creators to justify continuing with a similar monetization structure. Mario Kart Tour meanwhile seems to have be having far more success.
The Sonic series of games may simply need a rethink in how best to operate in the mobile environment. At the very least, Sega should reconsider how it works, or rather, squanders its opportunities to synergize with key related projects. When Sonic the Hedgehog released as a film earlier this year, it was genuinely surprising to learn that there were virtually no associated events going on in the various mobile games available.
Only Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces featured a small tie-in with the film-version skin of the character, but otherwise the opportunity came and went without being leveraged to grow the brand and its several mobile titles.
As a series, Sonic is certainly going to see more games released in the future on console and PC, and now seems like the necessary moment to reconsider exactly what a mobile game should look like to prevent the brand from becoming associated with bland titles that are good, but not great.
Source: pocketgamer.biz
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