Jump to content

Report/Rumor: SEGA "ready to pull the plug" on Sonic Boom


Recommended Posts

According to a source on Sonic Stadium, which I'm trying to verify so take this with a grain of salt for the time being, Sega has been displeased by the prospects of Sonic Boom and Sega is ready to pull the plug on Boom upon the completion of Boom's Second Season. As some of you are aware, Boom was Sega of America's internal project, seen as a chance to make something more appealing to the Western audiences. It has gained ground in Japan, however, SoJ executives are rumored to be "displeased" with the returns, citing poor game sales + reviews, low merchandising sales, and a lack of interest for the Cartoon (though this could be to the early air times for the first season and moved to Boomerang for the 2nd season). It appears Sega is ready to just pull the plug on everything Boom related.

The Original plans seemed to be there was going to be a trifecta of sorts for Sonic: Modern, Boom, & Spinoffs. This would have been alternating every year (so one year a Modern game, next a Boom, then a spinoff, repeat.) The rumor states that Boom will be replaced by Classic, due to how beloved the classics seem to be as of late. If this is true, it appears Classic Sonic will remain a large part of the franchise going forward. If Mania does well, then we will probably seeing more of Classic Sonic.

 

Again, take this with a grain of salt for the time being, I'll try to verify and we will see how things go. THIS INFORMATION WILL CHANGE AS SOON AS I GET UPDATES, SEE UPDATES, VERIFY, OR FROM SEGA THEMSELVES.

Do you think it's right to pull the plug on Boom? Thoughts on Boom? How do you feel about more Classic Sonic? Tell us in the comments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well then, if that's true that this series lasted almost as long as I thought it would. I mean the show's air dates are NOT great, especially on Boomerang as I don't have that channel in my package for this 2nd Season. Even then Season 1's air dates weren't good either, not to mention Sega botching it with Rise of Lyric's Dev Team which ended up making a game that resulted in some of the lowest reviews and fan reception since Sonic 06. Fire & Ice I'd say did help a bit as it looks decent, though Shattered Crystal looked okay as well, but the portable games aren't enough to curb faith in Boom for a Console Release anytime soon, or ever if this rumor is true. The comic for some reason lasted all of 11 issues despite actually being pretty funny, which leaves only the show as the main source of this continuity, there in lies the problem though.

There's nothing going on in the show, you can at least say Teen Titans GO, whether you hate it or not, is a parody on Super Heroes having wacky, non-sequitur adventures. Sonic Boom is essentially this, but without an excuse in it's comedy as it's just them living their lives with no context on what they do with them. The main characters, the villains (though I use the term very loosely here), and villagers all do pretty much nothing, don't go anywhere interesting other then around their little island and that's it. No stakes are raised nor is there any sort of payoff in the end, or long term goal, not to mention barely any lore since Rise of Lyric, which they refuse to mention anything from due to how the game bombed. So we have No Lore, No Character Motivation, and No Goals, Sonic Boom has nothing other then SoJ wanting to ditch it because it's not made from them. Or at least Sonic Boom doesn't have anything right now, I mean if something long term happens in Season 2 then maybe, just maybe it can keep on going for a 3rd Season if it's lucky. Otherwise while it was at first a possibly promising new continuity, Sonic Boom has sadly failed on all levels by both circumstance, incompetence, and mishandling on what it could or should have been. Marketing wise you can't really get toys flying off the shelf off a show that has some of the worst time slots a cartoon can possibly have, the only thing Boom could do if these rumors are true is be picked up for syndication and even then, they're probably not going to have enough episodes for that. Overall, I mean whenever Sonic gets a newer and hopefully better show, let's just hope it can bring a new light to Sonic as a whole, as Sonic Boom has in the end failed to do so, almost on arrival as it was being made. That and Sega DID interfere with the show during it's earliest developments, hence why 3 out of the 5 main characters look almost indistinguishable from they're Sega counterparts, if Sonic Boom's earliest concept art has shown, it could have been much more different that anything else Sonic has had in years, sadly and not for the better that wasn't the case.

Now that cycle of Sega Sonic, Sonic Boom, and Spin Offs does sound plausible as it gives devs some decent time to make a game based off of them, however with that in mind if Sonic Boom falls and Classic Sonic rises up once again, you'll see a spike in sales with Classic Sonic stuff and games, I can assure you of that...however, while it would last longer then Sonic Boom would I think there would be a burn out of Classic Sonic eventually. As much as I like Classic Sonic like any other old school fan, I will admit that it does have it's limits. After everyone reaches that limit you'll see it slowly dropping, after that what next? I honestly don't know, well other then us keeping Sonic alive and well after all. XP

I have watched and enjoyed Sonic Boom, it would be sad to see it go as it did have potential, but I wouldn't mind too much if that's it afterwards. It could have or be a lot of things, but Boom didn't make the explosion it was intended to. I will say that if anything happens to Boom, Sticks might be adopted by Sega themselves considering her placement in the latest Mario & Sonic Olympics Game. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's odd because almost all Sonic fans I've talked to say they love the show and watch it a lot; I cannot speak of the games though. However, I doubt that even with the lethargic sales of the "Boom" based games it was much worse than most of Sega's Sonic games in the last decade sales wise. If they are going on review scores and/or toy sales then that's kind of odd and very unbusinesslike.

Now, concerning the cartoon, I don't know wot their contract is like with Cartoon Network, it's usually a license fee that is paid by the studio/network to the owner of the I.P., so Sega would be getting paid regardless unless it's a royalty based contract. So actually if the show was to be canceled it would be Cartoon Network and by proxy their parent, Time Warner or the animation studio making would be the ones to do it unless Sega is just wanting to wipe the "Boom" cannon out of existence. Which is possible because it could be construed as competition to their main I.P.s some at Sega could probably argue. So basically the animation studio and Time Warner are the only ones really the only ones to lose out from the show tanking. We'll have to see I guess; but if this is true and Sega is getting rid of all of "boom" I would see it as Sega de-cannonizing another Sonic series that they fear would detract from their SoJ I.P.s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Wulfsbane said:

The Original plans seemed to be there was going to be a trifecta of sorts for Sonic: Modern, Boom, & Spinoffs. This would have been alternating every year (so one year a Modern game, next a Boom, then a spinoff, repeat.) The rumor states that Boom will be replaced by Classic, due to how beloved the classics seem to be as of late. If this is true, it appears Classic Sonic will remain a large part of the franchise going forward. If Mania does well, then we will probably seeing more of Classic Sonic.

Goddammnit, I KNEW SEGA would do this! I should be celebrating the supposed death of something I hate, something so ugly and cynical and designed to sell toys. I would have loved to see SEGA find out that screwing with your fanbase, rushing games out for release and centering everything about your show purely on the merchandise tends to screw you over too. Of course Boom didn't click with SoJ execs, it tried to be DIFFERENT. And lord knows you can't go against the status quo in Sonic's World, oh no. So now we're going back to the Classic stuff (AGAIN) and the Modern stuff with its Wisps and its shoddy jokes and no character whatsoever.

 You NEED character in this day and age. It's not the 90's anymore, you can't just act "hip" and "cool" and call it a day. You can't just flood your show with memes and in-jokes to prove you're relevant. You need a lot more than "going fast" to compete in this industry. I wanted SEGA to realise that what they did with Boom was wrong and hopefully give the next spin-off a bit more leeway and allow a lot more care to be put into it. At least enough for it to be the games/show first and the kitsch second.

But no, they've done pretty much exactly what I expected them to do; they went, "Oh, looks like our attempts to try something new didn't work. Time to go back to Classic Sonic and Wisps again!" and didn't learn a f*cking thing.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/30/2016 at 0:56 PM, WarTraveller said:

Goddammnit, I KNEW SEGA would do this! I should be celebrating the supposed death of something I hate, something so ugly and cynical and designed to sell toys. I would have loved to see SEGA find out that screwing with your fanbase, rushing games out for release and centering everything about your show purely on the merchandise tends to screw you over too. Of course Boom didn't click with SoJ execs, it tried to be DIFFERENT. And lord knows you can't go against the status quo in Sonic's World, oh no. So now we're going back to the Classic stuff (AGAIN) and the Modern stuff with its Wisps and its shoddy jokes and no character whatsoever.

 You NEED character in this day and age. It's not the 90's anymore, you can't just act "hip" and "cool" and call it a day. You can't just flood your show with memes and in-jokes to prove you're relevant. You need a lot more than "going fast" to compete in this industry. I wanted SEGA to realise that what they did with Boom was wrong and hopefully give the next spin-off a bit more leeway and allow a lot more care to be put into it. At least enough for it to be the games/show first and the kitsch second.

But no, they've done pretty much exactly what I expected them to do; they went, "Oh, looks like our attempts to try something new didn't work. Time to go back to Classic Sonic and Wisps again!" and didn't learn a f*cking thing.

I agree with you; but with 20 years of bad decisions with a few good ones thrown in there every now and then; my question is this: why are people expecting anything different? With every new game or show that comes out people are sitting there expectantly with glee expecting something new and then, surprise! It's the same craptastic song and dance: reboot, split the cannon further, fragment the fan base further. I personally quit expecting anything different after 10 years of wait after SatAM was canceled, Sonic CD displaced the western cannon, and Sonic Adventure completely decannonized almost everything good about the series.

Bottom line: after 20 years of going to a bone-dry well expecting water to be there but isn't, mayhap fans should start looking elsewhere; like what the fans are doing with the franchise. I've seen stories, games, and art from fans that has blown anything Sega has done in two decades out of the water.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...