Somewhere at Sonic Team is a whole "roadmap of Sonic titles," says head honcho Takashi Iizuka, and the devs "think about which game to release in which year"

Sonic Frontiers.

Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka has explained how the studio plans out the releases of Sonic games on a roadmap internally.

Sonic the Hedgehog is back to being a yearly franchise as of late, with every year since 2021 having a major release, whether it be remasters like Sonic Colors: Ultimate and Sonic x Shadow Generations, or new titles like Sonic Frontiers and Sonic Superstars, or something else entirely like this year's major release, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. And according to Sonic Team lead Takashi Iizuka, a lot of thought is put into what game should be released when.