Sega wanted to cancel Sonic until the first movie saved it, says Sonic Team boss
Sega executives once told Takashi Iizuka to cancel the entire Sonic franchise. He said no. The head of Sonic Team said he fought inside the organisation to keep the series alive.
Iizuka described the pressure in an interview with One More Game, reported on 22 September 2026. He did not name a date for the order, only that it came during the worst run for Sonic. His answer was to argue the case internally at Sega. He kept pushing to continue Video Games Chronicle.
He called the first live-action Sonic the Hedgehog film the biggest milestone that changed the course of the franchise. The film, which mixes real actors with a computer-generated Sonic, was released in 2020. Iizuka credited it with turning the series around after that low period. For a character that began in games, the move to cinemas reset its direction.
The interview also touched on Shadow the Hedgehog, the dark rival hedgehog who now headlines his own stories. Iizuka said the plan was for Shadow to die at the end of Sonic Adventure 2, one of the series' earlier 3D entries. That ending did not hold. Shadow was brought back for Sonic Heroes because the character was very popular with players.
What makes this stand out is how close the series came to ending. Sonic is one of games' most recognisable names. According to its current custodian, it survived because one producer refused the order to stop, and then a film gave it a second act.
