I just recived ODCM issue no. 10 today, and right in the letter of the month box was a letter I sent them a few weeks ago. I had asked if Sonic Team would be developing for other systems, and here’s they’re answer:
Hey Chris, there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding what will happen to Sega since it’s formerly internal development teams were split off into independant companies. For now, all of these teams are now only involved with making games for Dreamcast, NAOMI and NAOMI 2 arcade boards (as well as the occasional PC and handheld port). There have been rampant rumors about some of them taking their acts to to other platforms, but Sega has remained very firm in its proclimations that this is untrue.
We here at ODCM have heard it all (both the rumors and the denials) and we doubt that any of the theams will be developing for other systems under the Sega brand for a long, long time. On a side note, we’ve also heard through the grapevine that this rumor often strikes fear into the hearts of third party publishers who release games on competing systems, simply becuase Sega is such a revered game developer in Japan! No third party wants to compete with games like Jet Grind Radio and Shenmue. But for now, it looks like they have nothing to worry about: Sonc Team et al are still Sega acolytes. So relax Chris- Dreamcast is still the only place to see next-generation Sonic.
Next to the letter was a picture of Sonic and a PS2 with Sonic laughing out loud.
So it seems like we have nothing to worry about, at least with the Sonic Team. I’ll try to keep you updated with any new info about this subject-and so will everyone else :-).