SEGA has unveiled a new gameplay trailer for their upcoming game Sonic Runners, an iOS and Android title that will be the company’s first since they outlined their plans to focus upon mobile and online video games.
The company’s last Sonic games, the Wii U-exclusive Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and its 3DS counterpart Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, both pulled in disastrous sales and appear to have convinced SEGA to take a break from developing console Sonic games altogether. This makes Sonic Runners, the fourth Sonic title to be developed solely for the mobile platform, is an important release for the company.
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The game will take the form of a 2D, side-scrolling adventure with endless runner elements, similar to the likes of Temple Run only with the camera angle of a traditional platformer. It will be free though, as is the case with most mobile games these days, it will feature in-app purchases. It will be available for your iPhone, iPad or Android smartphone/tablet device.
Check out the Japanese gameplay trailer below:
SEGA cut 300 jobs last month in their transition from console releases to mobile and PC online games, with a statement from the company reading: “Local organisations managing packaged game software in Western markets will be streamlined.
“Voluntary retirement will be solicited in the aforementioned businesses to be withdrawn or consolidated and downsized, while at the same time personnel will be repositioned in digital games and growth areas of Group mainly as development personnel, in order to establish a structure which can constantly generate profits.”
Sonic Runners is set to be released in the second quarter of 2015, so anywhere between the months of April and June.