Sonic Dream Team Announcement Has Fans Split Over Apple Arcade Exclusivity

Sonic the Hedgehog fans were greeted this morning with an announcement for a brand new game: Sonic Dream Team. Just as fans prepared for another dry season after the release of two major games – Superstars and the final horizon update for Frontiers – this new game reveal dropped out of the blue.

Sonic Team made the relevant announcements all across social media, however, the news of Sonic Dream Team left fans split over its platform exclusivity. People have been expressing their thoughts, and some aren’t happy about this reveal at all.

Sonic Dream Team Announced Exclusively for Apple Play

Join a race against time to stop Dr. Eggman's bizarre dreams from coming true. Sonic Dream Team arrives December 5th exclusively on @AppleArcade! pic.twitter.com/Yp6RGJkhjs

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) November 1, 2023

Just when we thought Hello Kitty would be the only exclusive that overshadows an entire community, Sonic came to make a close second for that title. Sonic Dream Team is coming to Apple Arcade exclusively on December 5.

With the announcement, lots of dust has been kicked into the social media air concerning the hype for release. On the one hand, a new Sonic game is astounding news to hear after Superstars just recently released, along with the Sonic Frontiers getting a new update. On the other hand, this release comes with a significant, taunt string attached.

For most fans, a release for Modern Sonic and Classic Sonic meant silence. With Sonic Dream Team just announced in time for the Christmas season, diehard Sonic fans now have something more to look forward to, other than Sonic Prime, for end-of-the-year content. That is if they own an Apple product.

Related: Sonic Superstars: How To Use Every Chaos Emerald Power

Apple Exclusivity Places Strain on Community Reaction For Sonic Dream Team

For real though, as unfortunate as Dream Team being an Apple Arcade exclusive for now is, I’m really happy for Hardlight to have the opportunity to make a big, ambitious Sonic platformer that goes beyond the scope of their previous titles. I’m excited to see their spin on things. pic.twitter.com/Eqwdz0EmYg

— ToonStuff☔️ (@StuffToon) November 1, 2023

Exclusivity between consoles is a selling point for nothing more than the console or device in this case. Apple Arcade means that Sonic Dream Team will run on anything Apple, from phones to Macbooks. Aside from obvious grievances that fans have with this kind of isolation from all kinds of gamers, the idea of Sonic Dream Team presents a major problem for the game before it’s even released: game speed.

So Hardlight comes out with a game that LOOKS like how I'd like the next Modern Sonic game to look like essentially

and makes it Apple Arcade exclusive… 😭

wow. really hope it comes out on other platforms eventually. pic.twitter.com/K7iV3hksuB

— Dakiii ✨ (@iTsDakiii) November 1, 2023

Sonic games have always been known for being fast. Whether 2D or 3D, the games progress at impressive speeds. Fans, in the wake of reacting to the latest information about Sonic Dream Team being Apple exclusive, have suggested that this kind of game running on phones or relatively limited computers may hinder the game’s quality, especially if multiple characters are playable.

Animation looks great. Gameplay looks different to what I thought it would be (thought it would similar to Dash and Speed Battle). Looks like a new character is being introduced by looking at the thumbnail.

Though why is it an Apple Arcade exclusive? https://t.co/1v0s1HWmVj

— Inforpitude – Commisions Open (0/3) (@In4pitude) November 1, 2023

While Cream and Rogue joining the playable scene after years of being unavailable is very cool, the fact that every character seems to be at the same speed is a little discouraging. Until the game releases, it’ll be unclear if exclusive does mean what we think it does, and if that same exclusivity turns out to be a bottleneck for Sonic games going forward or not.