The Reason Sonic Fans Want SEGA To Delay ‘Sonic Frontiers’ #ReleaseFrontiersDemo
Over the past few days, Sonic fans have been mixed over the gameplay reveals for Sonic Frontiers. There have been those who have praised the new direction. Others, however, see too much of Sonic Forces in the games' basic mechanics. However, the overwhelming consensus is that the game needs more time in development. The overall consensus is that the game as shown in the videos from IGN first is far from complete.
Several people have compared what has been featured thus far as being comparable to a tech demo. Ian Walker stated in an opinion piece on Kotaku that "If you had showed me Sonic Frontiers last week and told me a fan reimagined Sonic with Unreal stock assets or even that someone simply modded the blue blur into Xenoblade Chronicles, I wouldn’t have argued." What has been shown of Sonic Frontiers thus far has been compared to a fan-made tech demo of Sonic in Unreal Engine and not something worthy of a AAA title by a renowned studio, and with the recent track record of Sonic games, this is not promising for fans of the blue blur.
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On Twitter, this has caused the rise of the #ReleaseFrontiersDemo movement. The goal of the hashtag is for SEGA to either release a demo of the game to take in fan feedback or simply delay the game while taking in the feedback given thus far. Sam Procrastinates, who is one of the major players in this movement, stated this on Twitter:
"If you really want proper fan feedback for Sonic Frontiers @SEGA, then there is only one real way to do it. #ReleaseFrontiersDemo
Then delay to implement the feedback. Do what is best for Sonic. Do what the movie studio did for the movie. Do what is necessary for success."
This is the sentiment of others who have posted using either #ReleaseFrontiersDemo or #DelayFrontiers. Chaomix, another large Sonic content creator, posted a similar sentiment on Twitter, stating that "Community feedback at this moment will be a PIVOTAL piece in making Sonic Frontiers an amazing experience," also calling for SEGA to release a demo of the upcoming Sonic game.
While there is a large portion of the fanbase that is behind this, there are also those that do not think releasing a demo or delaying the title will do any good. Regarding the release of a demo, fans have noted that it might take time away from the development of the main game. One user stated that a demo "wouldn't fix the game's core issues" and would only address issues regarding optimization and animation. Another argued that delaying it would result in poor sales, stating that "the Sonic hype is THIS year not in five years." A common argument that is also brought up is that the build being played in the footage is not the final build or perhaps not even the current build but only the most stable build at the time of recording.
There are several issues that fans would like fixed in Sonic Frontiers. These issues include stiff animations and physics, and whether or not these will be fixed is yet to be seen. However, it seems that SEGA may be more inclined to reach out for feedback this go around. Several users have reported being sent surveys after each reveal regarding the upcoming title. SEGA Insights has been sending out surveys to users who are deemed valued members of the community, so this may be an indication that they are willing to be more receptive to feedback for the upcoming title than they have in the past.
Sonic fans will be getting plenty of news regarding the new title throughout the month of June, and with IGN releasing another video this Tuesday and the title's appearance at Summer Games Fest on June 9th, it seems that fans of the blue blur will have plenty to talk about regarding Sonic Frontiers.
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