Social Listening: SEGA and their Fans

January 24, 2026

SEGA is a popular household name when it comes to video games. Almost everyone has at least heard of their mascot franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, especially with it's series of blockbuster movies releasing to critical acclaim over the past couple of years. This year, Sonic is celebrating his 35th anniversary, and many fans are excited for special announcements the dev team has teased and for the future of the blue blur. Over the years, Sonic has been no stranger to ridicule and backlash, with a wide variety of his games from the mid to late 2000's receiving poor reviews and dissapointing consumers and critics alike. Just under a decade ago, Sonic had his biggest blows yet, with the glitchy mess of Sonic Boom releasing in 2014 only to be followed by the poorly received Sonic Forces 3 years later. Sonic Boom was a mess of bugs and glitches[5][6], clearly rushed for release similar to the infamous Sonic '06 had been a decade before this. When Forces came out, people were optimistic as the late 2017 game was directley tied into Sonic's 25th anniversary[4] the year before. Much to everyone's dissapointment, Sonic Forces ended up feeling like a final nail in the coffin for many players, being bland, buggy, and lacking in depth. The only thing keeping Sonic afloat was the diehard fans and the marketing team; who were doing a decent job of keeping things humerous and interesting on their social media (see image above). There was, however, a light at the end of the tunnel.

Released just 3 months earlier, Sonic Mania[7] was a "return to form" for the blue hedgehog, going back to his beloved 16-bit graphics for a blast to the past of classic Sonic content. This was more than just a throwback, however, as not only was the art and music rehauled, but new, original content was added to the game. The biggest draw to the game, and what made it so good, is that a good chunk of the production team were actually Sonic fans.

Unlike Nintendo, SEGA has always been extremley supportive of fan projects. Songs, mods, fangames, fan ports, SEGA has openly acknowledged and supported the work of fan creators for decades. They can be seen respinding to comments, retweeting fanworks, and promoting fanart frequently online. Christian "Taxman" Whitehead, an Australian programmer and avid Sonic enthusiast, had worked on fan projects such as the 2007 release Retro Sonic[1]. Then in 2009 he created a proof-of-concept video in response to SEGA asking fans what games they waned for an iOS port. This proof-of-concept was a version of Sonic CD that was playable on iPhone using Christian's own custom engine. This would lead to him assisting with not only the mobile port of Sonic CD, but of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as well. Christian Whitehead was not the only Sonic fan to be involved in Sonic Mania's production, as people like fellow developer Simon "Stealth" Thomley[2] and composer Tiago "Tee" Lopes[3]. Their attention to fans and their desires, as well as the up-to-date humor displayed on their social media has kept this franchise afloat through it's highs and lows.

The care for the fans and love they get in return can be seen even to this day. Users like NeoBlitz can be seen here reacting to the news of a beloved, but not often seen set of characters, "The Chaotix" getting an audio drama centered around them. In regards to games like Sonic Mania, people are still going back and playing them, talking abou thow much they love the game and urging fellow fans to support the creators in their personal endeavours. Take user voxdafox here for example, urging their fellow sonic fans to go support Headcannon, the dev team run buy Simon Thomley.

As SEGA Sonic Team continue to gear up for a year full of celebrations and surprises, I feel like continuing to approach their fans with an open mind is the best way to go. David Meerman Scott, author of "The New Rules of Marketing and PR (9th Edition)", talks about how important it is to facilitate feedback from consumers not only to build a relationship, but to improve your product. In regards to the book itself, he says "...as I think of them, generating instant feedback... ...I continually posted parts of the book, which generated even more critical feedback- many thousands of comments- that made the book much better (p.263-264)". The responses that are garnered when posting, wether it's promotional material or just a meme, is always important to take into account. The fans have helped shape who Sonic is today, and hopefully will continue to do so in the future. Happy Birthday, Sonic the Hedgehog!