Sega’s recent financial report reveals the sales numbers and performance of Sonic Team’s latest release,Sonic Frontiers. The open-zone adventure featuring the company’s blue mascot was released in November last year, to much anticipation and cautious optimism. While the game had a mixed critical reception, the fan reception was more favorable and saw many fans praising the new direction. With suchpositivity surroundingSonic Frontiersafter its release, it saw healthy early sales across the world.
With the game becoming so beloved in a short amount of time, it managed to set some records compared to past titles. It broke the concurrent player count on Steam last year compared to the franchise’s last record, and it managed to become one of thefastest sellingSonicgames in Japan. The latter achievement was particularly impressive, as historically, the character isn’t nearly as popular in its home country compared to the West. An updated figure has been provided in this recent financial report from Sega, giving an idea of how successful the game became within 2022.
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This report focused on the big budget games released in the third quarter of 2022, those beingPersona 5 Royal’s remaster andSonic Frontiers. Both games saw strong sales in this period, releasing on multiple platforms. At the end of December 2022,Persona 5 Royal’s remaster had managed to move over 1.3 million units worldwide, whileSonic Frontierssaw 2.9 million units sold. Thelast figure given forSonic Frontierswas 2.5 million copies, which was announced in the middle of December, but still makes it one of the best-selling games in the franchise, even surpassingSonic Mania.
It’s quite notable how wellSonic Frontiersmanaged to sell within two months, especially when fans feared for the game’s performance launching alongside other heavy hitters of the season. Competition included similarly high-anticipated titles, likeGod of War Ragnarok,Bayonetta 3, andPokemon Scarlet and Violet, among others. The Black Friday and Holiday shopping season likely contributed to the game’s high sales within December as well.
While fans agree it isn’t a perfect game, many also believeSonic Frontiersis a step in the right direction.Sonic Frontiers' director has been taking fan feedbackregarding the release, whether it be for the upcoming 2023 DLC Roadmap or next game. This includes taking suggestions for more playable characters, what mechanics to implement or remove, or even reworking the final boss fight in some way, with the director hoping to make the nextSonicgames more enjoyable.
Sonic Frontiersis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
