Japanese game company makes bad business decisions for completely inscrutable reasons: more at 11

Whitehead also dashed away one of the big points of speculation among Sonic fans: that Sonic Mania 2 falling through was the result of bad blood between Sega and members of Evening Star. "Contrary to any rumors, we maintain a friendly relationship with Sega and hope fans are pumped to play both games once they release," he says.

These responses do not leave me with the same impression as the article’s author. Both parties maintain professionalism, but they also both dodged the direct question of why Evening Star isn’t making a sonic game right now. I still think there is bad blood, and history makes me wonder if it was Iizuka wanting to seize more creative control than Whitehead’s team was willing to give.

It's a shame we didn't get a proper sequel to Mania. Still, at least we're getting a spiritual successor that hopefully lives up to its predecessor. And I'm excited to see what Evening Star does with an original property.