Sonic Superstars Dev Team Doesn’t Think Pixel Art Style Will Last

UPDATE

Do you agree that pixel art will be phased out of the gaming industry? Or will many developers continue to use it? Let us know below!

ORIGINAL STORY

Sonic The Hedgehog is easily in the best place compared to the last few decades. Not only does the character have a set of successful movies, a Netflix TV show that many like, a spinoff with Knuckles coming eventually, and a hit 3D video game that arrived last year, but a new 2D game has many fans excited. Sonic Superstars feels like a return to the old-school style that SEGA built the franchise on, and many are eager to get their hands on it and return to “simpler times.” However, if you hope the team will return to pixel art for future games, you shouldn’t get your hopes up.

At Gamescom, Sonic Superstars producer Takashi Iizuki talked with GamesRadar+ about the franchise’s future, and he noted first that it was vital for Sonic Team to have good 3D and 2D entries to go alongside everything else that’s happening with Sonic The Hedgehog:

“When we talk about the brand, we definitely need to have a modern Sonic 3D game,” Iizuka noted. “We also feel we need to have a classic Sonic 2D game. Those are our fundamental pillars that we need to have. We’re expanding into movies and TV, but we still need to have both the 3D and the 2D line up for our gaming audience.”

Speaking on the 3D front, he noted that last year’s title, with its “open zone” style, will be built upon for potentially decades. However, when it comes to the pixel art style that many adore, including for Sonic games, Iizuki doesn’t think it’s going to last:

“We look at the pixel art – it’s great – but when we think about 10-20 years in the future, we don’t think it’s going to be a viable art style or presentation for our players. And in order to advance and really step things up, we did want to make sure that we’re presenting something that 10-20 years down the road we’re still evolving and creating new content for.”

Many will find this particular statement controversial. After all, pixel art is still being used in video games today. Square Enix even made a new pixel art style that many have adored via 2.5HD style. Moreover, plenty of indie games out there embrace a pixel art style and have created a beautiful, visually appealing game, thanks to it.

That’s not to say that Sonic Team won’t “see the light” eventually, but this statement will make many gamers shake their heads.