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Sonic the Hedgehog has crossed more than 1.51 billion unit sales & downloads

While it does include free-to-play titles, the Sonic franchise has nonetheless continued to be a top performer for Sega.

TJ Denzer

October 28, 2022 12:15 PM

Image via Sega

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There is little doubt that the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has remained fairly strong and beloved among Sega’s franchises. Even in its worst times, Sonic has kept fans' attention for better or worse, and it’s led the series to continue to be one Sega’s biggest cash cows. In a recent annual report, Sega Sammy Holdings reveals just how much the franchise continues to perform. Across all Sonic the Hedgehog games, it has moved over 1.51 billion unit sales and downloads.

This snippet of information was revealed in Sega Sammy Holdings’ FY 2022 annual report, which was released on the company’s investor relations website on October 28, 2022. The report had a lot of interesting information about Sega’s ongoing business, but one of the most illuminating stats among the bunch was just how well many of Sega’s best franchises are doing. There, at the top, sits Sonic the Hedgehog, which Sega claims has moved over 1.51 million units in sales and downloads since its humble beginnings on the Sega Genesis.

There are some caveats to these numbers. They include free-to-play games and downloadable interactive Sonic the Hedgehog experiences. That means mobile free-to-play titles like Sonic Dash, Sonic Runners, Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom and Sonic Runners Adventures are included in the count. These games can be downloaded at any time, but contain microtransactions to access some parts of the games. Nonetheless, 1.51 billion is nothing to sneeze at and that number is likely to grow in a big way when Sonic Frontiers comes out in November 2022.

The Blue Blur has presented us with many an adventure, even if some of them aren’t as good as others. Be sure to check out more Sonic the Hedgehog coverage, including our recent interview with Sonic Team lead Takashi Iizuka.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.