Iizuka: Online Issues Behind Original TSR Delay

Since the release of Team Sonic Racing last week, numerous players have taken to social media to criticize numerous issues found with the game’s online component.

Many of the complaints allege that the issues, from questionable matchmaking to random disconnects, sour otherwise solid gameplay:

https://twitter.com/WEEGEETHEGOD/status/1132249806578028544

https://twitter.com/guerreroums/status/1131742220636368897

https://twitter.com/Ruki185/status/1133407901090025472

It turns out that the game’s online woes was a major reason TSR was delayed from its original Holiday launch window. In an interview published this month by Siliconera, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka pointed to troubles with online play as “the biggest reason” behind the bump back:

The original release date was Winter 2018, but it ended up releasing in May 2019. Why is that?

Iizuka: “The biggest reason for the wait was because it took time to overcome problems with online races. Because people will not be playing it within the same network environments, with at most 12 players in one race this time, adjusting it was quite a large task. We kept testing the minimum network connection tests, which led to more debugging, and it took longer than we thought.”

Though Sumo Digital’s official social media channels have celebrated TSR’s recent accomplishment topping the UK multiplatform game charts, neither they nor Sega have directly addressed when or how these issues–known about internally for months, if Mr. Iizuka’s words are any indication–will be resolved.