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This article pertains to information relating to the development of Sonic Frontiers.

Development[]

For the development of Sonic Frontiers, Morio Kishimoto, who served as director for Sonic Colors, Sonic Lost World and Sonic Forces, returned to the series to direct the game.^[2][3] Serving as producer would be Sachiko Kawamura, who served as art director for Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces.^[1][3] Lastly, Ian Flynn, a contributing writer of various Sonic media, wrote the script.^[3][4][5]

According to Kishimoto, the team carried a lot of lessons from Sonic Forces and other previous 3D Sonic games into Sonic Frontiers.^[6] Development on Sonic Frontiers began in 2017 at Tokyo, with a team consisting of 60 people.^[7] In an interview with Game Informer in 2021, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka said that after the release of Sonic Forces, Sonic Team in Japan was trying many different approaches with the goal of creating a next-gen Sonic experience. In addition to celebrating the series' 30th anniversary, the team had been thinking about what modern Sonic gameplay should be like. Since Sonic Team would not deny high-speed action elements of games such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces, they opted to make a game for both current fans and new gamers to enjoy. Iizuka also stated that the game would probably solidify the direction for the Sonic series to be taken for the next decade.^[8] Kishimoto noted in particular that when speaking about the learnings from Sonic Forces, which was criticized for its level designs and short length, he concluded that the method that originated from Sonic Unleashed about designing stages with specific game mechanics where they have shorter stages, pull back on Sonic's speed a bit, and implement new actions for Sonic in the title was no longer going to satisfy the expectations of either Sonic fans or those who like stage-clear action games.^[6]

As Sonic Team brainstormed about what to do next, they realized that traditional 3D Sonic games had "little room for evolution".^[9] This prompted them to discuss about how to change the series' linear style of gameplay as a team to give players a Sonic gaming experience that allowed for more freedom,^[9] as they felt it could not progress in this direction.^[7] In an interview, Iizuka was asked if the game could be considered an anniversary title. However, he stated that he would not call it one due to its release being planned for 2022.^[10] Iizuka also felt that the series needed to take an innovative direction that would inform future games, comparing this direction to the way the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Adventure respectively influenced subsequent games in the Sonic series and hoping that their next game would have a similar effect for future games in the Sonic series.^[11][5][12] According to Iizuka, "To evolve the linear, stage-clearing 3D action that began with Sonic Adventure in 1998 and create a game that would be the cornerstone of future Sonic games – that was the goal when [they] started [Sonic Frontiers]."^[6]

With Iizuka always visiting Sonic's roots for inspiration for a new 3D Sonic game, the team revisited the starting point of the series and "made an evolutionary jump from there to come up with a new play style that suits Sonic." The idea for Sonic Frontiers' open world-based layout came from Kishimoto, who had enjoyed watching the evolution of the platformer genre's world map concept since it was popularized by Super Mario Bros. 3, whose hub world connects multiple linear-style stages. While games like Sonic Adventure previously used the playable world maps, Sonic Team wanted to evolve that concept with Sonic Frontiers further by combining them with gameplay. According to Iizuka, this format would also let both developer and player take advantage of the "two most important elements of Sonic games": running through areas and finding new discoveries and surprises. This level format would also remove the restrictions for traversal of both 2D and 3D Sonic games.^[6] As such, Sonic Team ultimately decided to depart from the series' traditional linear level design by setting the game in an open environment.^[9] This would give as much freedom to a 3D Sonic game as possible,^[9] and Kishimoto thought that it would allow for more diverse gameplay.^[13]

According to Ian Flynn, the game's story would have a serious tone, but not be as grim as the Metal Virus saga that he worked on before for the IDW Publishing Sonic the Hedgehog comic series.^[14] Unlike prior Sonic media Flynn had written, for which he pitched stories himself, Sega dictated the premise of Sonic Frontiers and which characters Flynn was allowed to use. Nonetheless, Flynn considered it "a dream come true" to write a major Sonic game.^[15] Iizuka would also note that the story would differ from previous Sonic games in that it is less humorous and does not make the player's goal obvious, instead challenging them to figure out how solve the problems themselves.^[9][5] Given the nonlinear approach, Flynn found pacing the story as "the biggest question" and "had to be massaged and revised as the game's structure took shape."^[15] Flynn would further emphasize that "melancholy" sums up the game's mood.^[15] In a later interview with Kishimoto and Iizuka, the former explained that the Japanese version's script was written a little differently in order to introduce hidden meaning behind words and give a room for imagination.^[16] About the target audience for the game's story, Kishimoto stated that the game aims for an older audience than the previous games, specifically targeting adolescent and older people.^[17]

The development of Sonic Frontiers ended up lasting five years, much longer than previous Sonic games' development cycles. Iizuka attributed the lengthy development in part to Sonic Frontiers not building on previous Sonic games' gameplay. Determining the direction required trial-and-error refinement, and the development restarted from scratch at one point.^[12] The COVID-19 pandemic began halfway during production, necessitating Sonic Team to shift to remote work for the first time in its history. Iizuka noted that this made it difficult for individual developers to "get a sense of the big picture", but the benefit of digital communication "accelerated" other aspects of the development.^[7] Their Tokyo studio in particular was very good at getting everyone set up to continue work at home early on, which allowed Sonic Team to keep their scheduled release on track.^[18] By the time of June 2022, Sonic Team was in the finalization of the game where they would work on debugging it.^[18]

The decision to include both the new Open Zone concept and traditional linear levels from 3D Sonic games in the form of the Cyber Space stages in Sonic Frontiers came about because the team wanted game aspects for fans of the 3D Sonic games to enjoy, as well as enjoy a broader variety of 3D action than before without making the Cyber Space stages mandatory as to not making the hurdles too high in the game.^{[9][5][6][16]} With the Cyber Space stages, Kishimoto wanted Sonic to "once again... stand amongst the other 'stage-clear' action games" that he enjoyed, like the Sega Mega Drive-era Sonic games and the Super Mario, Donkey Kong and Kirby series.^[6] However, while the Open Zone areas would remain the focus point of Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Team wanted to focus on the quality of the Cyber Space stages as well over the course of development. As for the inclusion of puzzles in the game that can expand the maps, they were added as different elements and quirks for the different islands so players would have more to do for fun and could both find enjoyment in gradually opening up new areas or rewards, and use their brains and action game techniques to solve puzzles in order to unlock said areas.^[9][5]

One of the primary challenges Sonic Team had when development the Open Zone concept was making sure it "felt true to the Sonic franchise".^[6] When it came to designing the world of Sonic Frontiers, Iizuka would state that open world games such as The Legend of Zelda series or other adventure games fundamentally have RPG elements or adventure worlds, and that for Sonic, the core of the gameplay is a "3D action game", with their basic idea being to have the 3D action platforming take place in an open space; this approach is meant to set Sonic Frontiers apart from the traditional open world trope, with the core appeal of every Sonic level having multiple paths and 3D action platforming with gimmicks for the players to enjoy that eventually loop back around to the main one applied to giant, non-linear open levels.^[19][9][5] What would also set the open levels in Sonic Frontiers apart from others would be how it incorporated Sonic's traditional speed and how it could carry the players around without the limitations of a stage.^[13] As a playable world map with stage-like elements had not been done before,^[13] Sonic Team came up with the term "Open Zone" over the colloquially used "open world" for Sonic Frontiers;^[9][13] Sonic Team came up with the term by combining "Zone", which is what a playable World in level-based platformers is called in the Sonic series with the word "Open", which refers to a freely explorable field.^[13]

Sonic Team also applied the lessons learned from developing the Adventure Fields in Sonic Adventure when designing Sonic Frontiers^[9] and repeatedly tested how fast Sonic could race through the Open Zones to determine how large they needed to be.^[5] However, the biggest challenge, according to Iizuka, was breaking free of the gameplay molds of past games and making sure the world of Sonic Frontiers was fun to explore at high speeds.^[6] According to Kishimoto, the very first template created for this game was a more general open-world type field with conventional 3D Sonic instead of quests. After giving it to the play-testers, it was met with negative response, primarily due to open world's core concepts such as traveling by walking, riding horses, or driving from one destination to another being unfitting to a Sonic game. In order to keep the high-speed freedom fun, the team would in the early stages of the project keep creating the island terrain where the game would be set over and over (in a trial and error process) in search of the ideal Open Zone.^[16][6] Eventually, through a lot of experimentation and iteration, Sonic Team found "the perfect Open Zone"; the map did not feel small despite Sonic's speed, the world did not feel empty due to its enemy encounters, and collectibles, puzzles and discoveries, and also it could serve as the main and separate point of progression through the game without going into the Cyber Space stages.^[20][16] Kishimoto also felt Sonic Frontiers evolved the platform genre concept of a world map by combining it with the Sonic gameplay, declaring that the Open Zone was "Sonic Frontiers' secret weapon".^[13] Iizuka would further go into labeling the product of this trial and error process as "Sonic's third evolution". ^[16]

One of the responses to their various lesson was, according to Iizuka, to create big, open areas in which players spend hours exploring, solving puzzles, fighting bosses, and collecting items, as this approach not only shook up the pacing of the traditional Sonic formula, but it also extended the playtime, something which was another criticism of Sonic Forces and previous 3D Sonic games.^[6] With such content aplenty in the Open Zones, Sonic Team decided not to raise the difficulty level as the game progressed. In addition, it would not carry on the problems the Sonic series had in traditional platforming games with maintaining the sense of speed as the levels got more difficult in order to increase playtime, as the Open Zone already had so much content to offer.^[13] Sonic Team also added weather and time dynamics in order to give the Open Zone a more emotional impact, but without it affecting Sonic's high-speed momentum.^[13]

It was decided that Sonic Team would develop Sonic Frontiers from scratch, with the team focusing on transitioning Sonic's speed and abilities to the open world while remaining true to previous games.^[1] In addition, the developers put a lot of focus on the story and its presentation in the game's setting.^[5] Notably, one of the things that would set Sonic Frontiers apart from past Sonic games is its somber and serene mood. This plays into the game's open fields and its minimalistic soundtrack. According to Iizuka, the different tone in Sonic Frontiers is due to its story and themes: past games in the Sonic series have taken different tones depending on their story and theme, with the traditional message stating clearly that something has gone wrong and it must be fixed.^[19][9][5] With the mysterious Starfall Islands being the game's major setting this time, the artists thus worked to create a mysterious tone to reflect Sonic exploring an unfamiliar landscape.^[19][9][5] Furthermore, because the Sonic series, in Kishimoto's eyes, has the potential to differentiate itself from the typical simple and stylistic tropes associated with the typical storytelling for platform games, Sonic Team went for a more serious story and photorealistic visuals for Sonic Frontiers.^[13]

When developing Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Team built the game with new-gen consoles in mind – leveraging the power of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X to support the ambitions to deliver a true Open Zone experience with the visual and technical gameplay elements elevated on the newest platforms. However, bringing Sonic's signature speed and combat abilities to life in larger areas were among Sonic Team's greatest challenges, as the team focused on "bringing Sonic to the next level and ensuring that he's fully represented as the character that fans know and love while still making his new form exciting." Furthermore, since Sonic Team has paid extremely close attention to getting all the little Sonic details right to make sure that Sonic's signature speed and characteristics remained consistent across every gaming iteration, they sought with Sonic Frontiers to introduce new combat styles to bring Sonic's signature dexterity onto the battlefield, with the new exploration options playing into Sonic's iconic speedy nature.^[1] At the same time, Sonic Team also tried making the combat feel like a true Sonic experience.^[21] They ultimately decided to prioritize combat to a greater extent because they wanted more to do in the Open Zone,^[21] which led to the incorporation of a battle system that made engaging enemies entertaining.^[5] Notably, whereas in previous games, where combat were ascents that gave the high-speed actions a sense of rhythm, combat were given a greater sense of "tension" and "tactics" in Sonic Frontiers, with the new enemies being based around tactics.^[22] All this resulted in combat being implemented as one of the three key pillars in the game.^[5] In the beginning of the development, Sonic's hands and feet were not shown moving when he is battling an enemy, instead; his movements where characterized by dynamically drawn spirals, as Sonic's body would cover his moving limbs. However, Sonic Team managed to work around this limitation by enabling Sonic to move his body and change his trajectory during combat.^[23] The Sonic the Hedgehog film produced by Paramount Pictures also influenced the development; Kishimoto requested that Sonic Team incorporate Easter eggs referencing it and based the combat on the film's depiction of Sonic.^[21] Sonic's growth system was as well designed to appeal to the different players' styles, encouraging them to adjust Sonic's parameters to their own style, as well as letting them enjoy the battle system with their own skillset or just giving them better chances.^[5] In addition, it would serve to keep players motivated in order to accompany the game's longer playtime.^[13]

Despite the shift to open-world design, Sonic Team determined that Sonic Frontiers did not feel like a Sonic game without platforming elements. This presented the challenge of balancing platforming with exploration; Sonic Team's solution was to have the world open up as a reward for completing challenges.^[12] The developers also wanted to ensure that players could choose between combat and platforming and would not be forced to fight enemies, so the game design was built to ensure that players could choose between them. As such, Sonic Team included various methods to collect items outside platforming and combat, such as puzzles.^[5] However, puzzles would remain optional, as the focus of Sonic Frontiers would be on Sonic's exhilarating sense of speed.^[13]

During the official panel discussion at the 2019 South by Southwest Sonic panel in March 2019, Iizuka confirmed that the studio had "begun production" on the next major Sonic the Hedgehog game, but that it would be a while before they were ready to reveal it.^[24][25][26] Later that month, Sega began a fan survey to determine the "next steps" for the Sonic series.^[27] In a Sega Sammy Holdings's Investor Q&A for 14 December 2021, it was stated that Sonic Frontiers was originally planned to be released in 2021 for the Sonic series' 30th anniversary, but was delayed to further polish the game.^[28] It was noted that not only for this title, but also during the development phase, the developers had been steadily conducting analysis to improve the quality of Sonic Frontiers before it release, such as introducing game testing based on external evaluations. As such, Sonic Team would regularly be holding external playtesting during the game's development. During a later interview with Kishimoto in the 2022 Tokyo Game Show event, Kishimoto would mention that internal playtesting of Sonic Frontiers had been taking place every three or four months during development in order to ensure the game's quality.^[29] For the pricing strategy, Sega had as well decided they were at a point where they needed to rethink. This led to Sega to focus on quality and spending a certain amount of money on the development on Sonic Frontiers, having concluded that it was important to maintain the price by maintaining the value of the Sonic IP at high level instead of "simply lowering the price at early stage to increase the number of unit sales".^[30][28]

The symbols associated with the announcement of the game were designed to not have a meaning that can be understood by common reasoning.^[31] About the game's title, it was coined out by Iizuka. He stated that it conveys a message to the customer that, in this game, "Sonic arrives on a completely unknown island and gradually explores it without knowing what to expect". He added that it also means that this is a "cutting-edge game" coming from Sonic Team, and that with it they hope they can reach users who have not entered the Sonic game market yet.^[32]

In 22 October 2022, Sonic Frontiers went gold with Kishimoto confirming the game's hardware master-up phase now being completed.^[33]

Promotion[]

The game's teaser was briefly foreshadowed in the trailer "Unstoppable", celebrating the Sonic franchise's 30th anniversary. The teaser was revealed the next day during the Sonic Central livestream video presentation on 27 May 2021 that showcased news regarding the series' anniversary celebration. Among these announcements were also the teaser trailer for this game.^[34] According to Sonic Team Creative Officer Takashi Iizuka, the announcement for the game was premature, but was released nonetheless out of worry for the fans, who had not been given a proper announcement of a new mainline Sonic title since Sonic Forces.^[31]

The title trademark of the game was filed by Sega on 22 October 2021, then published on 9 November 2021, a month before the official title reveal.^[35] Later, during December 2021, Sega registered and set up the subdomain, "frontiers.sonicthehedgehog.com".^[36]

Sonic Frontiers would later be formally revealed at The Game Awards 2021 with a trailer, which showcased a portion of an FMV, and several small clips of in-game scenery. This was also where the game's production title was officially confirmed.^[37][3] Later, on 31 May 2022, a new teaser of the gameplay for Sonic Frontiers was released on the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel, showcasing Sonic combating the game's enemies. It was also announced that Sega would collaborate with the video game news website IGN to promote Sonic Frontiers throughout June 2022, which would include world-exclusive gameplay reveals, the first ever hands-on impressions, interviews with the game's creators and more.^[38][39][40]

On 1 June 2022, the initial IGN First coverage of Sonic Frontiers released seven minutes of clips featuring uninterrupted Sonic Frontiers gameplay on Starfall Islands.^[39] On 3 June 2022, the second coverage of Sonic Frontiers from IGN First released a video showcasing and elaborating on the combat system in the game and the enemies and bosses encountered around the Starfall Islands.^[41] Next, on 7 June 2022, Mitchell Saltzman of IGN gave a hands-on preview of an early built of Sonic Frontiers based on his own experiences when playing said game, revealing previously revealed materials and new ones from the exploration and combat gameplay, along with pieces of the story, new gameplay elements, and his own impressions of Sonic Frontiers.^[19] Then, on 10 June 2022, IGN presented an interview with Takashi Iizuka about what led to Sonic Frontiers becoming an Open Zone game.^[9] Later, on 14 June 2022, IGN presented an interview with Morio Kishimoto, who told of the inspiration for the game's combat system,^[21] and on 15 June 2022, IGN published another interview with Kishimoto, who elaborated on the Open Zone concept.^[13] Soon after, on 22 June 2022, IGN had an interview with Ian Flynn about his work on Sonic Frontiers.^[15] IGN later capped off their coverage in June with a Q&A on 29 June 2022 about Sonic Frontiers using fan questions gathered from Twitter.^[42]

On 7 June 2022, Sonic Frontiers was featured on the Sonic Central livestream presentation again. There, a sneak peak at the animated short for Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Frontiers Prologue, was given, along with a few snippets of a boss fight from the game.^[43] A demo of Sonic Frontiers was also featured at the Summer Game Fest 2022 that featured two modes with different speed settings.^[44] On 28 June 2022, a new trailer for Sonic Frontiers was presented on the Nintendo Direct Mini, which revealed the Cyber Space levels. A few seconds of a CGI cutscene for the game was also shown.^[45] Later on the same day, Sega PR published information about the game's plot, the new character, Sage, and new screenshots from the Cyber Space levels revealed in the earlier screening.^[46]

Some fans of the Sonic series demanded that the game was delayed, and the hashtag #DelaySonicFrontiers briefly trended on Twitter.^[47] Iizuka said that Sonic Team expected early reactions to be polarized, as he felt the early footage was simple and thus would not give fans a good idea of what to expect.^[12][7] However, Iizuka hoped that as closer they get to the release date, they will be able to explain the game better.^[18]

The game uses different box arts for the Western and Japanese versions. According to Iizuka, this is made to better resonate with the game fans from both regions. He added that for Western fans, Sonic is an action character, so their box art is made to convey this feeling. On the other hand, for Japanese and other Asian countries fans, the box art is more subdued and conveys a sense of story.^[17]

To celebrate GamingWorld, TikTok covered the whole event from 24-28 August 2022, giving an exclusive look of the gameplay of several titles, including Sonic Frontiers.^[48]

TheGamer gave another preview of core gameplay mechanics that are a major part of the game on 29 June 2022.^[49]

A short television spot for Sonic Frontiers would later be debut as a feature played prior to Japanese screenings of the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 film. On 23 August 2022, a new story trailer for Sonic Frontiers would be shown off at the Gamescom event. This trailer also confirmed the game's release date and pre-order deals.^[50][51][52]

On 6 September, the Japanese rock band One Ok Rock released "Vandalize", the ending theme to Sonic Frontiers.^[53][54] Two days later, the official Sonic the Hedgehog social media released "I'm Here", the game's main theme, composed by Tomoya Ohtani, with the vocals of Merry Kirk-Holmes from To Octavia.^[55][56][57] On 12 September, Sonic Frontiers - Main Theme EP was released, having two tracks available, "I'm Here" and "Theme of Starfall Islands".^[58] A six-disc soundtrack album, Sonic Frontiers Original Soundtrack Stillness & Motion, was also revealed on 7 October 2022. It contains 150 tracks and was released on 7 December 2022.^[59] In 19 October, Data Discs announced that, in collaboration with Sega and Tomoya Ohtani, they were to release a separated, vinyl album called Sonic Frontiers: The Music of Starfall Islands, with pre-orders set to be made available on 22 October 2022.^[60][61] On the same day, the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel released another part of the game OST, called "Cyber Space DJ Mix".^[62]

A new trailer was released on 14 September, which revealed Super Sonic.^[63] A demo was also available at Tokyo Game Show 2022, where the game managed to reach max capacity all three days it was present.^[64] Another demo of Sonic Frontiers was playable for attendees at EGX London from 22-25 September.^[65]

On 30 September, Famitsu teased a guide book set to release at the same time as the game in Japan.^[66][67] Until 31 January 2023, signing up for the Sonic Frontiers newsletter granted subscribers free codes to unlock the Grind ShoesDLC in-game.^[68][69]

In October, Samsung produced commercials for their SSD disk product, Samsung 980 PRO, which also promoted Sonic Frontiers. The commercial was narrated by Sonic's Japanese voice actor, Jun'ichi Kanemaru.^[70]

On 11 October, DLC for the game was announced, being part of a collaboration with Monster Hunter.^[71][72] The free DLC was released on 14 November 2022.^[73][74][75]

On 13 October, a new trailer was released which showcased the combat aspects of the game. This trailer also showed a better look at the Skill Tree, Chaos Island and guardians. ^[76]

On 14 October, a tie-in comic titled Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Convergence was announced. Four days later, the first part was released on the official Sonic Twitter account.^[77]

In November, the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel would release a slew of videos in the lead up to the games release. Including Sonic Frontiers Prologue, now rebranded to Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Divergence on 1 November,^[78] a collection of recording sessions for the theme music to Ares Island on 2 November,^[79] and a brief interview with Tomoya Ohtani and his work on the game's soundtrack that was also uploaded the same day;^[80] the latter revealing a new song called "One Way Dream", composed by Ohtani, with vocals from Nathan Sharp (aka NateWantsToBattle), who previously collaborated with Sega as a guest singer during the Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary Symphony. On 1 November, the "Showdown Trailer" was released.^[81].

Post-release[]

Following the release of Sonic Frontiers on November 8, the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel would release the "Launch Trailer" on the same date.^[82] On 10 November, the first episode of Speed Strats based on the game would release, focusing on Open Zones, followed by two episodes focusing on progression and Cyber Space, respectively, releasing in December.^[83][84][85] Three videos featuring songs from the game would also be released. The one, "Undefeatable", would be released on 9 November, one day after the game's release.^[86] The other two, One Ok Rock's "Vandalize" and Big the Cat Lo-Fi, would release on 16 November and 21 November, respectively.^[87][88] A behind the scenes of "Vandalize" would be published shortly after the release of the music video.^[89] On 17 November, the "Accolades Trailer" would be released.^[90]

On 14 November, the Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account would organize the sixth Sonic Twitter Takeover, themed after Sonic Frontiers, featuring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Eggman and Shadow.^[91] The Twitter Takeover had over 44,000 questions asked and was published the next day on YouTube.^[92]

From 8-21 November 21, a special event based on Sonic Frontiers would take place in Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, featuring Super Sonic.^[93] A Sonic Frontiers-themed event would also take place in Sonic Dash from 8-24 November.

On 30 November, the Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account would reveal three upcoming free updates for Sonic Frontiers, set to release across 2023.^[94] A free DLC, containing a new costume for Sonic, the "Holiday Cheer Suit", was also announced.^[95] The Holiday Cheer Suit DLC released 21 December.^[95]

On 20 March 2023, the features of the first update, as well the release date, were revealed. The update, titled "Sights, Sounds and Speed", added Photo Mode, Jukebox, Battle Rush and Cyber Space Challenge, alongside some minor changes, such as changes to the Elder Koco. The update released on March 22.^[96] The official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube Channel released a trailer for this update and the first video part of a series called "Fast Facts", similar to the Speed Strats episodes, showcasing the features of the update.^[97][98]

On 23 June, during the third Sonic Central, a trailer for the second update, titled "Sonic's Birthday Bash", would be revealed.^[99] The update contains the Action Chain Challenge, Spindash, new Koco, new game + and Sonic's Birthday, alongside some changes and released shortly after the presentation.^[99] On 27 June, the second episode of Fast Facts would release, showcasing the update.^[100]

On 22 August, during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2023, a teaser trailer for the third update, named "The Final Horizon", was showcased, introducing a new transformation for Sonic.^[101] On 12 September, another teaser, titled "Sonic Frontiers - Into the Horizon" would be released.^[102] A few days later, on 14 September, a video featuring soundtrack from the update, the New Chapter Themes, was released.^[103] On 28 September, a trailer for this update would be unveiled, showcasing the new playable characters, as well the new Cyber Space stages.^[104] The update would be released later that day.

Following the release of the update, another video featuring soundtrack from the game, "I'm With You (Vocal Version)", would be released on 3 October.^[105] Sonic Frontiers Expansion Soundtrack Paths Revisited, a new soundtrack album including tracks from the updates and instrumentals of the game's vocal tracks, released digitally 2 October and physically 15 November.^[106]

References[]