If you want Sega’s new throwback Sonic The Hedgehog game on PC, you’re going to have to wait an extra two weeks. The publisher revealed today that Sonic Mania is coming out August 29 instead of August 15. The 16-bit-style platformer, which remixes many of the visuals and elements of the earliest Sonic games, will still hit PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on its original release date.
In a livestream on Sonic The Hedgehog’s official YouTube account, Sega explained that Sonic Mania requires more optimization on PC. The company wants to ensure it runs the same on all platforms, and it was able to hit that with the consoles. But it will need two more weeks to hit that target for players on Windows.
Sonic Mania is Sega’s latest attempt to do right by the Sonic franchise. The game is a 2D side-scroller. It’s director is Christian Whitehead, who built his reputation developing upgraded fan remakes of Sonic the Hedgehog games. The publisher brought him onboard to oversee Sonic Mania in an effort to appeal to the speedy rodent’s older fans.
But fans playing on PC will have to wait a bit longer, and that’s something many of them are probably accustomed to at this point.
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Poor PC port quality is one of the problems that often plagues publishers of multiplatform games. If developers don’t prioritize the PC version early on, they are often left with only two options for dealing with optimization on PC: delaying the game or launching a game with problems. We’ve seen publishers take both routes, and neither are ideal for fans.
In general, however, players seem to appreciate short delays more than getting blindsided by a product that doesn’t work well on their machine. With Sonic Mania, Sega is making it clear that it cares about the quality of the port, and that is something that could engender confidence in its customers.
