Sonic producer says games can learn from Backrooms' success

While promoting Sonic Pico Park, Takashi Iizuka said the video game industry can learn from the recent success of lower-budget horror movies like Backrooms. "It's a little bit a different type of media, but the movie industry is kind of going through similar issues that we in the game industry are going [through]," he said, noting that smaller creative efforts can still become major hits.

For Sonic Pico Park, Sega partnered with indie developer Tecopark to create a title a Summer Game Fest preview called "a sweet treat for Sonic fans who need something light to hold them over until the blue blur’s next big adventure." Iizuka praised Tecopark for being able to quickly iterate on ideas in a way AAA development just can't due to lofty expectations and extended timelines.

Over the past month, Backrooms and Obsession have unexpectedly performed very well at the box office.

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