Hatsune Miku's participation in "Sonic Racing Cross World" has been a big hit overseas. "I don't care about other works, I want to deliver the culmination of my work to my fans." Interview with Takashi Iizuka full of strong feelings

 

The new racing game "Sonic Racing Cross World" features a large number of characters from the "Sonic" series as well as guest characters, and competes for speed in a wide variety of stages full of surprises.

At the "Summer Game Fest 2025" held in Los Angeles, USA, Hatsune Miku, Ichiban Kasuga from the "Ryu Ga Gotoku" series, and Persona 5 The Royal It was announced that the Joker and Steve of "Minecraft" would be participating as guests, and there was a lot of excitement.

At Summer Game Fest 2025 Play Days, we interviewed Takashi Iizuka, who is the director of the Sonic series. We asked him to talk about his thoughts on this film from the reactions he actually saw overseas.

Takashi Iizuka

Producer of the Sonic series.

Hatsune Miku is a hot topic for its unexpectedness. A work that is like a culmination of the goodness of the previous works

――First of all, please tell us briefly about your background and how you are involved in this work.

Iizuka

: 

My first time in the Sonic series was when I was involved in the production of the Mega Drive version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 released in 1993, and since then I've been working on Sonic and NiGHTS into Dreams...Since the release of Sonic Colors in 2010, I have been in a position to integrate and produce various Sonic development teams, and I have been working with the Sonic team in Japan to produce games in the United States.

For this game, we started with the idea of making a new Sonic racing game. In the overall roadmap for the Sonic series, I said, "Let's make a new game." From there, we thought about the right development team for this title, including the development team and outsourcers, and decided to ask Sega's arcade team, including Ken Kobayakawa (creative director of the game), Ryuichi Taki (producer of the game), and Initial D (initial D).

――When it comes to a racing game that the "Initial D" team is working on, it's exciting.

Iizuka

 Yes, this game was created by the team that makes the best racing game at Sega and the Sonic team. We decided to work together on the game, and from there, we worked with Taki and Kobayakawa to discuss what kind of game we wanted to make.

――When did you start working on the project?

Iizuka

 We 

had been working on it for quite some time, so I don't remember the specific timing. The development period is also quite long.

――I can see that you put a lot of effort into it. The other day, the latest trailer was released at Summer Game Fest, and the venue was excited by the participation of Hatsune Miku, Kasuga Ichiban, and Joker. How did you feel about the reaction from overseas?

Iizuka

 One 

of the characters participating in the battle, "Hatsune Miku," had a surprising response. As was the case at the venue, Hatsune Miku is not a Sega character, so I think there was a surprise in that.

Then there's Minecraft. It's the best-selling game title in the world, so I feel that the fact that Sonic is teaming up with us has had a great response.

――Various guests have participated in past games, but could you tell us about the intention and background of having these characters participate in this game?

Iizuka

 I'd 

like to clarify this a bit, but Hatsune Miku, Kasuga Ichiban, and Joker are characters that will be added free of charge if you buy this product. Since it's Team Sonic Racing, at first, there are only Sonic characters on the disc. It's basically a Sonic game, but non-Sonic characters are added for free every month. These three characters are some of the characters that will be updated free of charge after release.

And Minecraft is something else, and you can enjoy it with a paid season pass. If you purchase a season pass, you can enjoy collaborative content with various large IPs (intellectual property) throughout the year. Currently, we have a total of 6 slots.

――There are quite a lot of them, and they are gorgeous.

Iizuka

 "Sonic racing games" have actually come out quite a bit in the past.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (released in 2010) was the starting point for recent titles, and this was a game in which various Sega characters participated in races. Sonic was part of that.

Following in that vein, "Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed" (released Japan 2014), followed by "Team Sonic Racing" (released in 2019), and then this title...... That is what it means.

We have fans of all the previous series, so we're bringing the best parts of each game to bring all the fans into this game. For example, let's add a transform function, or let's make racing where Sonic characters talk to each other.

Also, there are three games in the series called "Sonic Riders" where you race on a hoverboard, and we have incorporated the good of that. All the best Sonic racing games are included in this one. As part of that, we decided to include Sega characters other than Sonic. It was also indispensable to liven things up.

――It's no exaggeration to say that this is the culmination of Sega's racing games. In fact, there were paranoid fans of "Shenmue" in the editorial department, and Ryo Bazuki appeared only in the overseas version of "Transformed" that I mentioned earlier, but ...... possibility that such a character would appear?

Iizuka

 I 

can't answer about the unannounced characters yet, but the possibility is not zero. However, it is not possible to include everything, and it is assumed that there will be one character each month, so we have selected the most popular characters and IPs in SEGA.

I don't know if it will come out yet, and I don't think the announcement will be announced in advance. Every month, I want customers to look forward to wondering which characters will participate this month.

――You mentioned earlier that there will be calls between characters, but will there be any cross-pollinations between Sonic and the collaboration characters? For example, a combination of Sonic and Kasuga Ichiban .......

Iizuka

 There 

is no discussion about collaboration characters. In that respect, there is also a balance with the IP, so the voice interaction is only among the 24 characters of Sonic.

――I see. Even so, assuming that all 24 characters in Sonic have their own interactions, there are likely to be quite a few patterns.

Iizuka

 There are rival characters for those 24 characters, and in addition to the dialogue at the beginning, there are also combinations of lines like "Sonic → Shadow" when you send an attack item during a normal race to hit the opponent. This time, there are some sages who don't talk much, so you should be able to enjoy the character by saying, "This character talks like this!" This is quite interesting and appealing.

――I'd love to see all the patterns (laughs). Talking about the game as a whole, I think there are quite a few competing titles when it comes to racing games. What do you think is the difference between this work and other works, and what are the unique elements and points of interest in this work?

Iizuka

 Regardless of what other companies' titles are, we will continue to think that "Sonic Racing has been going on for a long time. Regardless of what other competing titles do, we will make the best race team we've ever had, including Sonic Riders.

Also, it's an idea. I think the idea of a "travel ring" where you warp to a completely different world on the second lap and come back again on the third lap is an element that you will never find anywhere else. Technically, it's a lot of work, and we're really focused on making the best race possible with this new idea.

――I played it, and the impact was tremendous. Also, the operability was quite good, and it felt good to be able to operate it as I wanted.

Iizuka

 In terms of operability, Kobayakawa in particular is very particular about production. I feel that this is a technology that has been cultivated in arcades. The handling, physical strength, and drift parts are really made to the point where they are adjusted until just before release.

――I felt that you were very particular about it. Were there any difficulties you faced during the production?

Iizuka

 I think Taki and Kobayakawa had a hard time with the technical part, but I feel that the environment was a little difficult because I was the only one in the United States and the development team was in Japan. Despite the time difference, we communicated well with them and thought about what kind of racing game would be good for us, for the SEGA brand, and for the Sonic brand.

――I think the fact that you can play cross-platform is also a big point, but isn't there a difference in the playing experience depending on the hardware?

Iizuka

 Of course, I try not to come out. Arcade race teams have been gaining development experience for a long time, based on the fact that they compete against each other on a network all over Japan. We have the technology that we have cultivated over many years in terms of how to make the race run on the network in an even state with little difference.

ーーAh, I see. That's certainly reassuring to see the power of the "Initial D" team.

Iizuka

 This time, we really made very delicate adjustments so that we could play against each other in the same situation even if the models were different.

――Finally, do you have a message for the fans who are looking forward to the release?

Iizuka

 Sonic Racing Cross World will be released on September 25, a little over three months from now. For those who really like racing, I think we can provide the most fun races than any other title, and I also want Sonic fans to enjoy the banter.

When you play the Grand Prix mode, you will appear as a rival character, and there are combinations of rivals and player characters of your choice for all characters, and it is fun to play while listening to the voice of your favorite character. More than an action game, this time it contains the dialogue of the characters, so it .......

I think that Sonic fans will definitely enjoy the goodness of the characters. We hope you enjoy it.

――Thank you very much.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

• Title: Sonic Racing Cross World
• Manufacturer: SEGA
• Release date: September 25, 2025
• Platform: Switch, PS5, PS4, XSX| S、Xbox One、PC（Steam、Epic）