Goodbye, Hedgehog Engine. Hello, Unreal Engine!

Salutatons and hello there. I'm back, with another scoop. 

Oh boy. SEGA's having quite a year, aren't they? With the excellent Persona 3 Reload and Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth both being critically acclaimed and huge hits right from the start. There's even more to come this year, with a brand new Super Monkey Ball game hitting in June, and there's also a smorgasbord of new Sonic content on the horizon, ending with the release of Sonic The Hedgehog 3 this December. 

Not gonna lie. This is pretty exciting. One of the core reasons being cited for this huge surge of success is Epic's ever-so-omnipotent Unreal Engine. It's had a long history of powering some of the most popular game series on earth, and that's not stopping anytime soon, with Japanese companies such as Square Enix, Bandai Namco, and even Nintendo now joining the fray. One of these companies that has been slow to adopt the engine is SEGA. Those days are clearly over, here are some more games you can expect to see using it in the future:

In case it wasn't obvious already by the posts from the last year, everything in bold is information I've been told, not speculation. 

Cool? Cool?! COOL. Let's get into it:

Jet Set Radio: 

Set to release in 2026, this will start the trend of a SEGA's live service initiative and it's one of the biggest games SEGA has ever put into production. This game is a BIGGGG deal and it's being powered by Unreal Engine. Expect SEGA to hype the hell out of this one. 

Persona 6:

Also set to release in 2026, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the series, the sixth mainline installment will continue the trend, much like Persona 3 and it's mother series, Shin Megami Tensei, of using the engine, every future installment will be an unreal joint.

We can't forget about the Blue Blur, can we? (Even if I want to sometimes...) 

Sonic: 

I have this very much on the record, that Sonic Team are leaving the Hedgehog Engine 2 behind and will be gradually going into Unreal Engine within the next few years. 

In fact, a full on, Unreal Engine 5 powered remake of a big, important, seminal 3D Sonic game has entered production at Sonic Team recently, and I guarantee it's gonna turn this fanbase up, down, and all around. 

I won't be revealing the game today, but I will soon. Please forgive me. 

I will narrow it down so your speculation is made much easier, though. It's one of these legendary titles: 

Hoo boy, this one would make people lose their fucking minds. 

Enthusiasm for this one would be SA1 TIMES FIVE. Can't say I would be too excited, personally, though.

"Really?" I'm sure some people are asking. But Heroes has A LOT of untapped potential. I've always felt that way. 

Oh Dear God, what a fucking day the Internet will be if this is the one they're remaking, LOL. I would love to live in that universe, so bad. 

Eh, can't say I care for Unleashed myself, but once again, I need to live in a universe to see this. People want this, bad. 

So there ya go, it's gonna be one of these five.

I'll reveal the game soon. Have fun speculating!

Reasons being cited for this change internally are ease of use, lower game development costs and the fact that it's way to easier to reuse and share assets over from team to team. This is one of the smartest decisions SEGA has ever made, so I'm all for this. 

More soon! Good things come to those who wait.