Sonic Team Boss Believes Franchise is Only Halfway to Its Full Potential - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 29 September 2026 / 1,588 Views
Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka in an interview in the latest issue of Japanese magazine Continue (transcribed by VideoGamesChronicle) believes the Sonic series is only halfway to reaching its full potential.
"To be honest, we believe that Sonic is still only halfway to reaching its full potential," Iizuka said. "When we created the first Sonic the Hedgehog, the development team at the time used to say, 'Let’s aim for Disney.' When I first joined Sega, I was also told to dream big… things like, 'Use Sonic to surpass Disney' and 'One day, we'll build a theme park.'
"Thirty-five years have passed, but we haven't quite gotten there yet. Now that we've brought the movie to life, we want to share the appeal of Sonic with even more people who haven't yet played the Sonic game series."
Sonic creative director Kazuyuki Hoshino added, "Until now, we hadn't really had a concrete understanding of how well-known and established Sonic was in places such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
"In Thailand and South Korea, for example, there are noticeably many younger fans who discovered Sonic after the Sonic the Hedgehog movies. In Taiwan, on the other hand, what struck me was how many fans had been there since the Mega Drive era."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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ok, now lets see what 75% or above can accomplish
If you have not achieved that in 35 years, I got bad news for you.
"Let’s aim for Disney.' When I first joined Sega, I was also told to dream big… things like, 'Use Sonic to surpass Disney' and 'One day, we'll build a theme park.'"
Nintendo: Hold my beer...
I want SEGA to win though. If they were to make hardware again I absolutely be all in for their console. They are Nintendo's only true rival in knowing how to make games.
