Balan Wonderworld co-dev Arzest is "leading development" on Sonic Superstars

Talking to Eurogamer at Summer Games Fest today, Sonic Team vice president of product development Takashi Iizuka has clarified the question of the newly unveiled Sonic Superstars’ main developer: it’s being led by Arzest, the Japanese studio which recently co-developed Fantasian and the troubled Balan Wonderworld – and that’s headed up by Sonic’s original creator Naoto Ohshima.

“This is a brand new classic Sonic Game that’s been developed,” Iizuka-san said, via translator, “and in order to recreate that classic Sonic gameplay, we needed someone who understands the classic Sonic series and understands that gameplay format, in order to really execute well on the final product.”

“And so we’re working together, with Naoto Ohshima-san, who is the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog and was there at Sonic 1, creating and developing the game. We’re working with Ooshima-san and his team at Arzest, they’re leading development on the title and they’re doing a great job of making a brand new classic Sonic game.”