Fans who like to create personalized Sonic the Hedgehog games will be delighted to know that Sega isn’t planning to send a cease and desist order any time soon. According to a series of tweets released by Sega America associate influencer Katie Chrzanowski, the company’s biggest concern about Sonic fan games is monetization. The associate influencer revealed that the company has no issue with these games, provided that the fans aren’t trying to make a profit from them. Something that Robin Hood Bingo promo code can offer to online players by enabling them to wager more on Bingo and slots.
Katie was quick to point out that the company will use this policy for most of the fan games, although she couldn’t legally say whether that will apply in everything. Nonetheless, this move comes as a major deviation compared to other video game publishers on the market.
Christian Whitehead was among the first developers to bring the Sonic fan games to life, launching his programming career by developing the fan titles before attracting Sega’s attention. Whitehead was eventually hired to work on Sonic sports before he developed the critically acclaimed game Sonic Mania.
Unfortunately, not all publishers have embraced fan games like Sega. Most publishers are fiercely protective of their IPs, with companies like Nintendo being notorious for sending cease and desist orders for fan games. Recently, Warner Bros. also followed Nintendo’s footsteps with a fan game based on their 1989 Batman movie.
According to the initial tweet by Katie Chrzanowski, a lot of developers get to hone their skills while working on fan projects. Notably, titles like GalaxyTrail’s Freedom Planet started as a fan game based on Sonic the Hedgehog. The company’s acknowledgement of this fact says a lot about Sega’s culture and knowledge of the gaming industry.
Sega’s approach towards video games shows a lot of forward-thinking, and it would be interesting to see whether other companies will follow their example. More publishers are expected to follow Sega’s example, as long as the games aren’t turning any profit.
The release of the recent fan game known as Sonic Omens seems to have piqued fans’ interest, with many concerned that Sega might call for its shutdown. However, Sega seemed to give tactical approval of the game through their social media account. Sonic Omens has been developed for over a year, and it’ll be released in an episodic format. The game is all assembled in Unreal Engine 4, with fans offering tails, voices and Eggman to sonic.
