New ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ game has been delayed, one week before launch

1 May, 2025

Sonic Rumble

A brand new Sonic The Hedgehog game has been delayed, one week before it was due to come out.

Sonic Rumble is a party battle royale game that can host up to 32 players. The PC and mobile game had been due to launch properly next week (May 8) after being made available in a number of countries as part of a soft launch last August.

However it’s now been confirmed Sonic Rumble will be delayed. 

“Thanks to your incredible support, we’ve surpassed 1.4 million pre-registrations, a milestone that speaks volumes about your passion for Sonic Rumble. With this level of excitement, we feel an even greater responsibility to deliver an experience worthy of your time,” said developers in a statement. 

“As we prepare for Update 1.2, we will introduce major features like Crews, Rumble Ranking and Skills. These changes will fundamentally reshape the game, and one thing has become clear: We want to create a game that evolves and stays fun for months and years to come. To build the kind of high-quality, long-lasting Sonic game our players deserve, we need more time. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone the Global Launch.”

The team went on to say the decision wasn’t made “lightly” but they believe taking extra time is the “right choice” for the future of Sonic Rumble. “We don’t have a new release date to share yet, but as soon as we get closer, we’ll update you through our social media and community channels,” they added. 

The game was originally announced last summer and had been due to launch at the end of 2024.

“I want to applaud them for delaying their game but for a company as big as Sega, delaying a game EIGHT DAYS before release is super unprofessional. Very curious what was the straw that broke the camel’s back with this one,” wrote one fan on X. “It’s been postponed twice now which is a little crazy. I’m not exactly upset, I’m just confused on how they’ve been so unsure of the release multiple times,” added another. 

Sonic Rumble will feature stages inspired by classic Sonic The Hedgehog levels and players will take control of toy versions of Sonic heroes and villains. “We wanted to create something that both embodied Sonic’s coolness and showed off a cuter side of the character than usual,” explained game director Makoto Tase in an interview with Gamebraves. “We wanted to create something that wasn’t rooted in the normal physics of the Sonic world,” added Sonic’s creator officer Takashi Iizuka. 

In other news, viral mobile game Flappy Bird is available to play again after 10 years – and developers have promised it will “never” feature controversial Web3 elements.

The post New ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ game has been delayed, one week before launch appeared first on NME.