The Sonic franchise surpasses 1.5 Billion players

As part of SEGA's recently released financial reports, the company listed the sales data for its biggest franchises, revealing that the company’s mascot – Sonic the Hedgehog – has in total across its paid and free games been played by over 1.5 Billion people.

Sonic the Hedgehog has been the face of SEGA ever since the mascot first landed on the gaming scene back in 1991. That being said, it is interesting to see just how much bigger the blue blur is when compared to other SEGA franchises. When accounting for both units sold and free to play downloads, SEGA’s top 10 best-selling franchises is as follows:

1. Sonic: 1.51bn
2. Total War: 40.4m
3. Puyo Puyo: 37.7m
4. Football Manager: 25m
5. Yakuza: 19.8m
6. Virtua Fighter: 18.8m
7. Shin Megami Tensei: 19m
8. Hatsune Miku: 18.5m
9. Persona: 15.5m
10. Phantasy Star: 9.8m

While it is safe to assume that a large portion of the 1.5 Billion players can be attributed to Sonic’s many free-to-play mobile titles released over the decades, the first Sonic the Hedgehog game alone sold over 44 million units across its release platforms. Recent Sonic games haven’t sold nearly as well, but considering the buzz surrounding Sonic Frontiers, it will be interesting to see just how many copies the upcoming game manages to shift.

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KitGuru says: Which of these franchises is your favourite? Are you surprised by the placement of some of these franchises? Let us know down below,

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