We had reported before on initial rumors that Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric was a victim of troubled development. A fan has collated the evidence regarding Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric’s development, and put forward a theory on what could have gone wrong behind the scenes at developer Big Red Button.
First off, our source collated this evidence, which can be considered separate from the theory;
1) Big Red Button had 14 employees when work on Sonic Boom started, and have had several unannounced projects prior to this that did not see release.
2) The exodus of Big Red Button talent stems back months, possibly as early as February 2014, based on job listings on their own website. There was a good six months, for example, that they did not have a senior combat designer.
3) Their use of CryEngine did not seem prudent. Limited use of the engine in making Wii U games meant they took on the burden of pioneering the engine for the game (no support, wrote their own code and documentation). CryEngine was also untested for split screen, and was apparently not good for action games like Sonic.
4) The game has been in production for several years, not just two to three years. In fact, it possibly goes as far back as 2007.
So, the theory goes that the game was put in hiatus, as Sonic Unleashed was released, and then put back on track.
Based on other information collated from various sources, our source posits that Sega essentially mismanaged the collaboration for the Sonic Boom franchise as a whole. Big Red Button had little communication with OuiDo, the animators behind the cartoon, leading to last minute changes in the game to tie them together.
As for Sanzaru’s Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal, it is a last minute addition well after the other two projects were in development. The game was greenlit after it became clear that there wouldn’t be enough in the cartoon and Rise of Lyric to tie them together.
As our source explains throughout, his theory does not take Big Red Button off the hook from developing a buggy, problematic game, but it explains how such a high profile project could have turned out in this condition.
Our source also points out that immediately upon release, many of the people in Sega and Big Red Button became tightlipped, canceling interviews and similar press events. If there’s more to this than what is publicly known, they still won’t talk about it.
If this theory holds true, Sega is ultimately responsible for letting the games turn out the way they did, but Big Red Button is also at fault for not having managed the project adeptly on their own.
Did you buy either Sonic Boom games? Do you think these theories hold water? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
